According to Reuters, the European Union is planning to expedite the switch to green and renewable energy sources, in order to reduce the current dependency on Russia’s fossil fuels. While the European Commission’s previous plan was to achieve a 40% clean energy rate by 2030, the number was raised to 45%, in the context of the recent developments in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Among the measures that the EU plans to implement in the immediate future are energy saving, reducing gas imports from Russia and relying on alternative sources of supply, as well as investing in renewable energy projects that can be rapidly and efficiently deployed.
One of the actions that will be taken to support this plan is funding the solar manufacturing industry in the purpose of increasing the use of solar energy. According to Euronews.com, the European Commission issued a draft that is yet to be published, in which it declares that “solar electricity and heat are key for phasing out EU’s dependence on Russian natural gas“.
Considering that the price of photovoltaic technology has been constantly decreasing during the past ten years, it is no wonder that the EU is relying on solar energy sources to reduce the energy dependence on Russia as much as possible.
How will this strategy work?
The European Commission declared that the EU solar energy strategy “aims to ensure that solar energy achieves its full potential in helping to meet the European Green Deal’s climate & energy targets. This initiative is meant to encourage the use of solar technology as an energy source, by “identifying barriers to solar energy use, proposing measures to accelerate its roll-out and making EU solar energy systems more competitive & resilient”.
However, one the biggest challenges in the implementation of this project is the major financial investment that is necessary for the development of the solar manufacturing industry, which amounts to billions of euros. In this sense, a strong collaboration between the EU and the governments of each country is necessary, in order to expedite the launch of programs that provide support for the use of rooftop solar panels, but also of other initiatives through which the use of solar energy is encouraged and implemented.
Photo credits: Photo by Chelsea on Unsplash