Via Earth.org, a report on the EU’s decision – in order to make solar the largest electricity source in the EU – to propose plans for mandatory solar panels on all new buildings by 2029:
The EU aims to bring online over 320 GW (320,000 MW) of Solar Energy by 2025 & 600 GW (600,000 MW) by 2030. Rooftop PV could provide almost 25% of the EU’s electricity consumption, more than the share of natural gas today.
The European Commission has presented its proposal for a dedicated solar energy strategy, which basically seeks to transform homes, shops, and businesses into energy-efficient buildings and their occupants into electricity producers, promising a drastic reduction in prices.
The “solar rooftop initiative” will make mandatory the installation of solar panels on new public and commercial buildings by 2027 and residential buildings by 2029.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) confirmed that solar power schemes now offer the cheapest electricity in history and predicted that by 2050, solar power production will skyrocket and become the world’s primary source of electricity.There is a double urgency to transform the energy system: ending the EU’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels, which are used as an economic and political weapon, and tackling the climate crisis. The idea is to be fully independent of Russian energy by the end of 2027, in just over five years.
Europe currently still relies on Russia for 40% of its gas, 27% of its oil, and 46% of all coal. The new proposal will mainly concern Russian gas, while Russian coal will be phased out in August, and an embargo on oil will go into effect at the end of this year.
The EU energy plan is also proposing to double the rate of deployment of heat pumps, produce 10 million tonnes of domestic renewable hydrogen by 2030, and double wind capacity.The latter of which recently saw four North Sea countries – Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Denmark – commit to a joint project to increase offshore wind capacity by tenfold to help supply energy and green hydrogen in the region.
Half of the EU’s energy would come from renewable sources by 2030, more than double the current amount.
The total cost of achieving this would reach hundreds of billions, requiring an investment of €210bn between now and 2027 from the private and public sectors across Europe. Still, it’s important to consider that part of that money would come from savings on imported fuel.Saving energy, i.e., reducing energy consumption through price signals, energy efficiency measures, or voluntary efforts, can often be the cheapest, safest and cleanest way to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.
The sixth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report concludes that global greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by 43% by 2030 to remain on track for meeting the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 ºC. As the energy sector is central to delivering greenhouse gas emission reductions, it will be at the heart of this transition.