‘Nobody can take solar or wind hostage’: IEA chief on creating a secure energy supply
“The extra we go for clear vitality, the extra resistant we’re to international conflicts as a result of no one can take photo voltaic or wind as a hostage,” Worldwide Vitality Company boss Dr Fatih Birol informed Euronews.
World instability has dramatically affected each the availability and, as a consequence, the value of vitality in recent times.
Vitality prices aren’t the one factor holding again Europe’s competitiveness, however pricing shock definitely hasn’t helped.
Whereas the bloc races to decarbonise in time to realize local weather objectives, can it face up to any extra crises?
On this episode of The Huge Query, government director of the Worldwide Vitality Company (IEA), Dr Fatih Birol sits down with Hannah Brown to debate how the drive for clear vitality will make Europe extra resilient to crises.
How are international conflicts affecting the vitality transition?
The primary sentiment held by Dr Birol is that, while battle continues, nations can not work collectively to deal with points equivalent to local weather change.
When requested what modifications he hopes to see earlier than the subsequent World Vitality Outlook, a report printed by the IEA each October, Dr Birol mentioned he desires to see nations come collectively “and attempt to get some consensus on how we go ahead”.
Regardless of the shortage of world collaboration, and maybe surprisingly, due to battle and crises, the race for renewable vitality has sped up.
“The extra we go for clear vitality, the extra resistant we’re to those crises as a result of no one can take photo voltaic or wind as a hostage,” Dr Birol informed Euronews.
“The extra these vitality safety threats, on account of the political tensions we see, the stronger the push for clear energies, not just for local weather change causes, however for vitality safety causes.”
In response to Dr Birol, we’re getting into “the age of electrical energy”, and the vast majority of it’s produced from clear vitality.
Photo voltaic, wind, hydropower and nuclear make up an enormous a part of Europe’s clear combine however Dr Birol suggests geothermal vitality ought to turn out to be a extra essential ingredient within the bloc’s vitality cocktail.
“This may also help us to generate electrical energy with out interruption,” Dr Birol defined, including that, not like wind or photo voltaic, it’s obtainable 24/7.
“We’re working arduous to carry the price of geothermal vitality down in order that it additionally enhances photo voltaic and wind.”
The Huge Queryis a sequence from Euronews Enterprise the place we sit down with business leaders and specialists to debate a few of the most essential subjects on right now’s agenda.
Watch the video above for the total dialog with Dr Fatih Birol from the Worldwide Vitality Company.
Video editor • Nicolas Coquet
