The Future of European Energy

Among the many challenges the European Union is facing, the transition into a greener and more sustainable energy system is a particularly pressing issue for EU politicians.

If the Union is to survive, common energy policies are needed. The Nord Stream 2 story is proof of it. 

In the latest Bruegel podcast episode, Simone Tagliapietra discuss this complex but crucial topic with Sir Philip Lowe, former director general at the European Commission, and Alberto Pototschnig, director at the European Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators.

What is the first thing to do according to Pototschnig?



First of all we need to make sure that the regulations governing production and use of electricity, both at national level and at European level, are opening up doors and windows for people to innovate and do things and not preventing them from doing it.

Both believe in the importance of the market for the development of the sector. That's how politicians need to approach the question. In this times of nostalgia for the forever gone Nation-State, we need to think at a regional level. How to transport the energy produced from wind in Northern Europe to the Mediterranean countries? How to bring north the energy collected by solar panels in the south?

Engineers will find a way to make it possible - the experts say- but politicians need to implement it, and that's the difficult part.

Lowe points to one possible solution.

The idea of being able to transform electricity produced from renewables into gas. Then use the existing infrastructure to store energy as gas in order to transport it because, over longer distances, is more efficient to transport gas than electricity. And then use it either as gas where you cannot electrify or turn it to electricity again.

The analysts also highlight the need to distribute the effect of climate change policies among the total population. The yellow vests movement in France shows how dangerous it can be if politicians forget about this.