a week ago Ukraine it turned into a energy island by ceasing to be connected to the Russian electricity grid as part of pre-planned tests. The Kiev authorities have decided that they will not reconnect to the Russian grid to supply themselves with energy, which has increased the risk of blackouts at a particularly difficult time. Given this situation and the request of emergency aid launched by Kiev, the EU energy ministers they have promised to accelerate the work to synchronize “as soon as possible & rdquor; the Ukrainian power grid to the European one. Despite the urgency, the connection will still take a few “days or weeks”.
“The Member States have given a clear signal that we have to embark on this synchronization. We have to verify some technical aspects and in particular the security of the network, but we are there to help our Ukrainian friends & rdquor ;, explained the French energy minister, Barbara Pompiliafter the extraordinary meeting held in Brussels to assess the impact of the Russian invasion on the country’s energy situation.
During the meeting, the Twenty-seven have also committed to supply gas, through the reverse flow from west to east, diesel, jet fuel, generators and to ensure close monitoring of nuclear power plants. “This war will have profound repercussions on our own nuclear security system and we have carried out a preparation exercise to ensure that it can withstand the impact of possible supply interruptions & rdquor ;, explained the energy commissioner, Kadri Simson.
The meeting has also served to launch once again the voice of alert in the face of the high EU energy dependency over Russia, from where it imports 40% of the gas it consumes and almost 30% of its oil. Although the diagnosis of the European Commission is that the EU will be able to spend this winter safely – storage tanks are at 30% – thanks to the increase in shipments of liquefied LNG gas and a more favorable weather forecast, it does not exclude punitive measures for part of the Kremlin for the sanctions adopted in recent days. The European Commission will present next week a new communication with measures to diversify suppliers, encourage the use of renewables and prepare for next winter by establishing the obligation to establish national gas reserves, as is already the case with oil, and which some countries have already implemented.
Spain asks for measures
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The third vice-president of the government and minister of ecological transition attended the meeting of energy ministers on behalf of Spain, Theresa Riverawho has asked again “temporary and extraordinary” measures to prevent the rise in the price of gas from affecting the electricity bill. In Ribera’s opinion, the Russian invasion has once again highlighted Europe’s “immense fragility” in terms of energy, due to its dependence on a single supplier, as is the case with Russia, and on a raw material with prices “ extraordinarily volatile” for months as is the gas.
A problem that will not be resolved this spring, as the European Commission predicted in the autumn, and that will continue to affect at least until 2023. “The message is that it was a conjunctural situation. It may be, but it is a situation that lasts a long time and whose end is not clear & rdquor ;, warned Ribera, who attributes this delay in the solution to the high demand worldwide since “one of the main producers worldwide He has entered a suicidal drift for himself and others & rdquor; that generates a “significant uncertainty & rdquor; with “a horizon of high prices for a long time yet& rdquor ;.