On the eve of Ursula von der Leyen’s speech on the State of the Union, from which indications on the common energy policy are expected, further details emerge on how the Commission intends to propose the reduction of electricity consumption, while Brussels collects Norwegian skepticism on the price ceiling of gas. A topic that comes and goes from the European negotiating table and which is contributing – together with the latest developments from the military field – to lower the price of the Ttf of Amsterdam: today the futures contract expiring October 2022 drops 9.07% to 188.3 euros per megawatt hour.
The European draft to cut electricity consumption
According to the draft regulations on energy matters, relaunched by theAnsa, the European Commission will propose a mandatory target of reducing electricity consumption during peak hours. According to the draft, the mandatory target would entail the selection of 3 or 4 hours per day of the week in which to reduce consumption, leaving the states a “margin of discretion” regarding the choice of times. The draft also proposes a mandatory limit to the revenues of operators producing energy from renewable, nuclear and lignite, ie other than gas. The limit will apply to revenues per megaWatt-hour of electricity produced. The surplus revenues deriving from the application of the cap will have to be ‘passed on’ to citizens and businesses “exposed to high electricity prices”, with the States deciding on the most suitable redistributive measures. The draft also provides for the obligation to incentivize long-term purchase contracts, which serve to inject liquidity into the renewables market. States will also be able to share the extra income and extend regulated prices to SMEs.
Finally, the draft reads, Member States will be obliged to introduce an exceptional and temporary solidarity contribution for the fossil industry, “on the basis of the taxable profit realized in fiscal year 2022” and only in that year. The proposals will pass via article 122, ie directly by the States, which will be able to amend and approve them by qualified majority.
The ceiling on the price of gas
Meanwhile, however, the skepticism around the price remains high. “We agree to have an even closer dialogue with the European Union by moving forward on the various proposals on the table. We are preparing to participate in the talks with an open attitude, but we are skeptical of a gas price cap. The price cap will not solve. the fundamental problem, namely that there is too little gas in Europe “, said the Norwegian Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, in a statement after a telephone conversation with President von der Leyen this morning, regarding the energy crisis that affects Europe.
“It is important – adds the Norwegian premier – to maintain a close dialogue with partners and allies in Europe regarding the various solutions to the difficult situation that has arisen due to the war of aggression perpetrated by Russia against Ukraine. beginning, the Norway has done everything possible to remedy the situation in Europe and Norwegian companies have significantly increased their gas production. Norway now supplies 8% more gas to Europe than when the war broke out. “
In Italy, he is the minister Cingolani to insist that Europe move quickly for the introduction of the price cap on gas: “Yesterday there was a call for a first group of experts, including an Italian,” said the Minister of Ecological Transition Roberto Cingolani interviewed by Radio 24. Cingolani explained that the mandate was given “for September” to study the price cap and that “in the space of two weeks” there will be the first indications. “For the decision – he explained – you don’t need unanimity, you need a qualified majority”. Meanwhile, confirming the picture anticipated by Republic, we are moving towards an intervention to increase internal production and allocate the gas thus extracted at a controlled price to the companies that are suffering. “The operators who make this gas available – he said – are not non-profit organizations, they are companies listed on the stock exchange, they cannot be asked to give the state the gas to be given at a discounted price, there are investors to whom they must explain the ‘operation”.
Cingolani has therefore reopened the chapter of authorizations. “There is a huge amount of energy capacity of new plants blocked because there are superintendencies blocking the authorization for a landscape issue”, he said: “I understand the importance of the landscape, I find it sickening to say that the landscape goes into Constitution, we are in an emergency. We need to understand what the priority is “.
Regasificator, the mayor of Piombino: “contrary urbanistic opinion”
And further headaches at the Mite come from Piombino, the designated site for one of the two regasifiers expected like hotcakes to break away from the Russian dependence. The municipal council of Piombino (Livorno) approved an urban planning opinion contrary to the project for the positioning of a regasification plant in the city port. This is what Mayor Francesco Ferrari says in a social post.
“This is a very precise first technical document – writes Ferrari – which only detects the critical issues related to this particular subject, but others will follow that take into consideration the aspects linked to safety, the environmental ones and the repercussions on the city’s economic fabric”. Ferrari, in a post signed together with Giuliano Parodi, city planning councilor, explains that the “document clearly expresses in a very thorough way how the location of the Golar Tundra in the port of Piombino can generate interference with the urban planning of the city, with the he idea of territorial development that we are pursuing and above all with the advancement of urban planning tools. The structural plan contains a series of principles such as the retreat of the factory and the consequent restitution of large spaces to citizens, the development of small and medium company to be set up in the port areas “. For Ferrari and Parodi it is “only a portion of the many concrete reasons that will be expressed in the further opinions that the Municipality will be called upon to express in the context of the services conference”.
Meanwhile, Eni is dealing with diversification as it accelerates development projects in Saudi Arabia. Today in Abu Dhabi the Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology of the United Arab Emirates and General Manager and CEO of the National Oil Company of Abu Dhabi (ADNOC) Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, and the CEO of the Six-legged Dog, Claudio Descalzi, they met “to discuss the progress of the activities of future projects and collaboration and the acceleration of the multibillion-dollar project of Ghasha. It is estimated that this contains significant volumes of recoverable gas and could produce over 42.5 million cubic meters per day , over 120,000 barrels of oil and condensates “.