The Association for Production, Storage and Trading of Electricity (APSTE) joined the open letter signed by Breakthrough Energy, the European Association for Storage of Energy – EASE, SolarPower Europe, and WindEurope, calling on the European Commission to recognise energy storage’s crucial role for the security of energy supply in Europe.
The organisations welcome that the REPowerEU plan presented in March rightly recognises renewables, especially wind and solar, as key technologies to decrease Europe’s dependence on Russian oil, gas, and coal.
However, even if the renewable energy industry is ready to support EU’s ambitions, without rapidly scaling up market-ready energy storage technologies, the EU will be unable to achieve a net-zero power system, risking continued exposure to volatile fossil energy markets.
The EU urgently needs a massive and rapid roll-out of energy storage solutions. Some of the solutions we have today to balance renewable generation – mostly dispatchable fossil generation such as gas-fired power plants – run contrary to Europe’s climate, energy independence, and security of supply ambitions.
Energy storage needs to become a political priority alongside renewables in the short term and there are three actions the European Commission can take in its REPowerEU Action Plan in May:
- Set energy storage targets for 2030.
- Promote the uptake of energy storage technologies through funding instruments, such as Contracts for Difference under the Innovation Fund.
- Mainstream energy storage in the European Commission’s implementation of the REPowerEU action plan and in the ongoing review of the Electricity Market Design.
>> Read the full open letter at ease-storage.eu
