After decades of ideological mismanagement of the blocs’ electricity market policy, change may be on the horizon. The EU’s policy has nearly obliterated the continent’s renewable energy industry, leading to the easily predictable–and predicted–dependence on Russian gas and oil. It took the invasion of Ukraine and skyrocketing energy prices for the EU to ask “how did we get it so wrong.”
Jérôme Guillet, one of the most astute and articulate observers of the EU’s energy market posted a hopeful blog. In The EU channels me: The new energy market paper gets stuff right he describes nothing less than an about face from the EU’s focus on “competition” and the elimination of state support. No doubt this is due to the huge impact the Russian invasion of Ukraine had on EU’s energy market, but I would suggest that the US passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and the Biden’s administration goal of “onshoring” chip production as well as electric vehicle manufacturing and their batteries.
The EU is now openly talking about re-establishing their renewable energy industry that they so unwisely off-shored to China and Asia.
Late, very late, but better than never. See Guillet’s post and follow him for how markets are to work if we ever hope to have a chance against climate change.
