by Suff » 06 Jul 2022, 13:57
It is a complicated mix.
Germany wants to transition at their own speed, but the EU needs some big changes faster. Because Germany was forced back to coal when they shut down the Nuclear, they needed some way to meet the EU commitments.
This then becomes a tangled web. If gas can be designated a renewable energy source, then Poland, who uses very high % coal, can be leaned on to move to gas. That can then be funded out of the 15bn euro funds already being channelled to Poland. This takes pressure off Germany to reduce Now and gives them more time to get their wind and solar in place for net zero 2050.
It is a twisted and tangled web. Germany doesn't really want to use gas as the transition method as their ministers standing up against this show, what they really want is to take a single step to renewable energy and ramp down coal and gas to very low levels.
Designating gas as sustainable gives Germany the time to do this. Plus, when Germany reaches 2050, they are ahead of the others because they didn't use gas as a transition space, they go direct to the final solution. But they can't do that for 2030, because their industry requires too much power. Hence the "rebalancing" plan which enables the EU to hit their targets whilst gaining Germany the breathing space to hit their own targets.
Nothing is as it looks on the surface. Also Poland has resolutely refused to transition from coal to Russian gas and refused to participate in either Nordstream effort, claiming that Germany was putting a Russian gun to their head. Poland was roundly condemned for that and for burning coal (of which they have a lot but have been burning Russian coal), for their own energy security.
To date Poland's energy mix has only included around 15% gas with coal and oil being the really heavy lifters. This will change when the connector pipeline to Norway is completed and Poland replaces the entirety of their gas supplies with Norwegian gas. Due Jan 2023. At this point Poland can start that transition away from coal and onto gas, thus taking advantage of the new designation of gas as a sustainable energy investment.
Chess anyone?
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Those who understand Binary and those who do not.