EU Commission's Second Strategic Energy Review a welcome step toward joint Northern European electricity market
Fortum Corporation Press release 13.11.2008, 16.00 EET
EU Commission's Second Strategic Energy Review a welcome step toward joint Northern European electricity market The EU Commission has today published its Second Strategic Energy Review concentrating on security of energy supply. It complements the earlier actions to further improve the functioning of the internal energy market and climate change mitigation. It also indicates the increasing role of the European Union in the field of energy policies, which has earlier primarily lied in the hands of the Member States. Internal energy market necessary for achieving environmental and security of supply targets The review considers competitive internal energy market fundamental in achieving the targets set for emission reductions, renewables and energy efficiency contributing greatly to security of energy supply. No wonder, properly functioning internal energy market and better interconnections between the Member States is the number one target in the proposed EU Energy Security and Solidarity Action Plan. One of the basic ideas of the EU - internal market - should be properly put into practice also in the field of electricity and gas. This should also be reflected in political decision making, as unified actions are much more effective than dispersed national actions in order to meet the energy and climate challenges. The Commission has identified interconnection of the Baltic countries into EU's other electricity networks as one of Community priorities. This is welcome development creating a concrete step towards a joint Northern European electricity market covering all the countries around the Baltic Sea. Vision for 2050: decarbonised EU electricity supply The review includes also first elements for Union's energy vision for 2050. These include, among other things, decarbonising the EU electricity supply by 2050 via energy efficiency, renewable and nuclear energy as well as carbon capture and storage. It also aims to end oil dependency in transport by promoting, or even obliging, the use of vehicles fuelled by electricity, bio fuels and hydrogen. The timing of the review is very important due to financial turmoil. It will also give guidance for the energy policy agenda of the new Commission to be elected after the EU Parliament elections in June 2009. Fortum Corporation Corporate Communications Further information: Esa Hyvärinen, Vice President, Public Affairs, Fortum Corporation, +358 40 826 2646