EGEC reaction to the release of the Energy System Integration
Brussels, 8 July 2020 – EGEC welcomes the adoption of the Communication from the European Commission on the EU Strategy for Energy System Integration. This strategy should accelerate the renewable energy transition to solve the climate and economic crisis. It is important that the Commission recognises a one-size-fits-all approach is impossible in the EU, as the national energy systems are so diverse.
EGEC Secretary General Philippe Dumas underlined “The Energy System Integration should not be based on simplified terminology with no clarification. It must also include a modelling for heating and cooling decarbonisation.”
We welcome the focus on circular energy systems and the attention given to geothermal district heating and heat pumps. These technologies accelerate decarbonisation, but they need a dedicated strategy.
The next crucial change in 2020 should be to complete the internal energy market. To do so, the geothermal sector calls for an internal market for heat. The current interpretation of the internal energy market by the European Commission gives unfair advantage to electricity and fossil gas, at the expense of renewable heat. The focus on fossil gas is not compatible with the Paris Agreement nor the Commission efforts on climate-neutrality.
Philippe Dumas added “We regret the lack of reference to a “made in Europe” manufacturing and production of the energy systems structured around local renewable energy sources such as geothermal. The energy system integration should also have tackled more thoroughly the issue of heat poverty, which affects between 50 and 125 million people in the EU.”
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Contact:
Valeria Mazzagatti / Head of Communications / v.mazzagatti@egec.org // +32 486 954343
Notes to editors
Read EGEC’s position paper on energy system integration
Read EGEC’s call for an internal market for heat
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