On 18 May 2022, the European Commission unveiled REPowerEU, a plan to reduce Russian fossil fuel dependency and advance the green transition.
In the plan, the European Commission recognises that energy storage plays a key role in ensuring the security of supply and supporting renewables integration, reducing the need for polluting gas power plants.
In their response to the plan, EASE has announced that it welcomes the provisions that aim at boosting energy storage deployment.
However, the association has also cited an unfortunate absence of strategy to outline clear targets, stating how “its announcement alone would have sent strong investment signals and accelerated technology deployment”.
EASE believes the European Commission can still develop and present such a strategy in the next months, building upon REPowerEU. The Association further cited European Parliament’s report on energy storage – which proposed the development of a strategy in 2020 – as a potential foundation for said strategy.
“It is also a pity that the topic of curtailment is not fully covered. The EU wastes enormous quantities of renewable energy due to overproduction and system congestion: energy storage would be able to prevent such inefficiency and maximise EU power generation,” stated EASE in a release.
While EASE believes that the text contains some good provisions, they have stated that storage deployment needs to increase by at least 14-fold by 2030 to achieve decarbonisation targets and energy security.
EASE’s response to the REPowerEU is not the first time they have requested more attention within the plan for energy storage strategy. On 13 April, 2022, they released a joint letter, co-signed by Breakthrough Energy, Solar Power EU and Wind Europe.
The open letter, which is available online, called on the European Commission to recognise energy storage as a crucial role component for security of energy supply in Europe.
Post-release signatories include AEPIBAL, APSTE- (Association for Production, Storage and Trading of Electricity), APREN (The Portuguese Renewable Energy Association), ASEALEN (The Spanish Association of Energy Storage), AZA Battery, BGH2A (Bulgarian hydrogen fuel cell and energy storage association), Climate Strategy & Partners, DNV, EDF, EIT InnoEnergy, Energy Storage Ireland, Energy Storage NL, FCA (Future Cleantech Architects), Flow Batteries Europe, Fluence, GE (General Electric), IESA (Irish Energy Storage Association), NGEN and Voith Hydro.
