Archivio tag: sicurezza energetica

Sicurezza energetica: le proposte della Commissione europea

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bandiera europeaNonostante il suo mandato scada tra pochi mesi, la Commissione europea ha pubblicato la scorsa settimana le sue proposte per una Strategia per la Sicurezza Energetica Europea.

Rispondendo alle richieste del Consiglio europeo di marzo, e tenendo in considerazione in primo luogo i rischi connessi alla crisi russo-ucraina, la Commissione ha ribadito la necessita di adottare una strategia “testarda”, che promuova la capacità dell’Unione di resistere nel breve termine agli shock e alle interruzione dei rifornimenti energetici e che, nel lungo periodo, consenta alla stessa Unione di ridurre la dipendenza da particolari fonti di energia, particolari fornitori o particolari vie d’approvvigionamento.

Per fare questo è necessario ci sia la volontà degli Stati membri di coordinarsi e cooperare attivamente, anteponendo la prospettiva comunitaria a quella strettamente nazionale. Si tratta di qualcosa più facile a dirsi che a farsi, visto che i vari Stati membri presentano situazioni fortemente differenziate e quindi non è facile per i vari governi superare gli egoismi nazionali e adottare atteggiamenti più solidali.

A questo punto la palla passa al Consiglio europeo, che si riunirà il 26 e 27 giugno e che dovrà anche esprimersi sulle proposte circa le politiche energetico-climatiche per il 2030.

PS: guardando all’elenco delle infrastutture che per la Commissione sono importanti per garantire la sicurezza enegetica nei vari paesi membri viene da chiedersi chi pagherà il tutto. La trentina di infrastrutture elencate hanno infatti un costo di realizzazione di alcune decine di miliardi di euro ed è poco plausibile che i privati saranno disposti a metterceli tutti, tanto più che la domanda di energia in Europa è stagnante e il consumo di gas in Europa dovrebbe addirittura cadere, se venisse attuato il piano proposto dalla Commissione per il 2030. D’altra parte, la sicurezza è un bene pubblico e il mercato non è il miglior meccanismo per garantirne un’adeguata offerta.

 

Anche l’Economist a volte sbaglia

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Money talks: March 3rd 2014 - Sabre-rattling and stocksIn questi giorni sono apparsi sui media numerosi commenti sulle possibili implicazioni della crisi russo-ucraina. Come spesso accade, tuttavia, non sempre si parla a proposito o in maniera obiettiva.

Anche l’Economist, fonte di solito molto affidabile, ha espresso una posizione quanto meno non precisa nella rubrica Money Talks.

Nel video uno dei giornalisti sottolinea come l’Europa sia troppo dipendente dal gas russo (25% dei consumi) e come la gran parte di questo passi attraverso l’Ucraina (80%). Conclusione: nel medio-breve termine l’UE è minacciata dalla crisi politica tra Russia e Ucraina e deve intervenire, promuovendo tra le altre cose il ricorso allo shale gas e incoraggiando le recenti aperture dell’Amministrazione USA sull’esportazione di gas nord-americano.

Ora, che l’80% del gas russo diretto in Europa passi dall’Ucraina mi sembra quanto meno un’affermazione capziosa: può anche essere, ma con il Nord Stream e il Yamal Europa disponibili, solo 100 Gmc di capacità di esportazione annua su un totale di circa 180 Gmc passano in suolo ucraino.

Se ci aggiungete il fatto che i consumi europei sono in calo per la crisi economica (i gasdotti stanno lavorando a capacità ridotta) e che la primavera è alle porte, è possibile dire che ad essere minacciati sono solo alcuni Paesi membri dell’UE, come la Slovacchia o la Bulgaria, mentre per gli altri i pericoli sono molto modesti.

Che poi la decisione dell’amministrazione USA di autorizzare la realizzazione di qualche impianto di rigassificazione possa aiutare l’Europa nel medio termine mi sembra fantasia: prima di uno o due anni nessuno degli impianti sarà pronto e anche quando lo sarà rappresenterà solo una piccolo porzione dell’offerta mondiale di GNL. Gli USA non saranno un esportatore significativo di gas prima del 2020 e, probabilmente, non lo saranno mai.

Lo stesso dicasi per le risorse di shale europee: anche se tutti i governi europei dessero oggi il via libera al suo sfruttamento, sarebbero necessari 5-10 anni per avere una produzione significativa. Ci vuole del tempo per creare da zero un’industria.

Come più volte detto su questo blog, bisogna stare attenti quando si leggono notizie sui temi energetici: spesso chi scrivi non è ben informato o, peggio, dice solo delle mezze verità per poter sostenere la sua posizione.

Ecco rischi e priorità della politica energetica italiana

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Ecco rischi e priorità della politica energetica italianaFormiche ha pubblicato un estratto a mia firma dal rapporto “La visione strategica della leadership italiana”, a cura dell’Istituto Machiavelli e dell’Ispo, che sarà presentato il 10 dicembre all’Hotel Jumeirah, a Roma.

L’Italia è storicamente un grande importatore di energia. Le poche riserve di combustibili fossili e i limiti tecnologici allo sviluppo delle rinnovabili hanno infatti obbligato gli operatori nazionali a rivolgersi all’estero per soddisfare il crescente fabbisogno energetico che ha caratterizzato l’economia italiana tra il dopoguerra e gli anni Settanta. Dopo la traumatica esperienza dell’autarchia, l’accesso ai mercati internazionali ha così rappresentato un elemento essenziale dello sviluppo economico e sociale del Paese.
Anche nei decenni successivi, caratterizzati da tassi di crescita dei consumi inferiori, il ricorso alle importazioni ha in ogni caso rappresentato l’unico modo per avere accesso a quantitativi sufficienti di energia a prezzi economicamente sostenibili. I consumi energetici sono così potuti crescere in modo quasi ininterrotto fino a metà degli anni Duemila.

Continua su Formiche…

Le difficoltà del post-Gheddafi e la sicurezza italiana

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Tracciato del gasdotto GreenstreamL’amministratore delegato di Eni, Paolo Scaroni, ha recentemente dichiarato che le esportazioni di gas dalla Libia all’Italia potrebbero essere sospese a seguito di alcune manifestazioni di protesta popolare nei pressi della centrale di compressione di Mellitah.

Un episodio come questo evidenzia quanto il Paese nord-africano fatichi a ritrovare una stabilità interna, elemento necessario per la ripresa dell’economia e per assicurare prospettive migliori ai suoi cittadini e ai soggetti esteri che come Eni che vengono a lavorarvi.

La faccenda tuttavia non deve preoccupare l’Italia, che al momento si trova ad avere un eccesso di offerta di gas dovuto a molti fattori, non ultimo l’autunno particolarmente mite. Anche se venisse meno l’apporto del gasdotto Greenstream che ci porta il gas libico, non rischiamo affatto di rimanere al freddo o senza luce.

Più complessa è invece la valutazione su Eni, che ha storicamente puntato molto sulla Libia (Eni ottiene circa il 15% della sua produzione di idrocarburi da quel paese). Tuttavia, il problema principale di Eni non dovrebbe essere tanto quello di non poter importare il gas libico, quanto piuttosto quello di vedere minacciata la propria produzione di petrolio in Libia.

Eni può infatti utilizzare per l’Italia i volumi di gas che deve ritirare da Russia e Algeria in base alle clausole take or pay (volumi che si sono rivelati eccessivi), coprendo così la mancata produzione libica senza riportare un danno economico netto.

Diverso il discorso sul petrolio libico, che Eni può invece vendere sui mercati internazionali. Il perdurare dell’instabilità in Libia non può che implicare maggiori costi per la sicurezza e per il capitale (più è rischiosa un’attività, maggiore è il tasso d’interesse preteso dai creditori o dagli azionisti), cose non positive in questo periodo non troppo felice dell’economia mondiale.

Elementi essenziali della sicurezza energetica

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Enel SpA Valerio Abbagnara European Union June 27 2013 Valerio Abbagnara Author page » Energy security: definition and scope Historically, the introduction of the energy security concept is attributed to Sir Winston Churchill, who, in his role as pre-WWI First Lord of the Admiralty for the British Navy, stated: “Safety and certainty in oil lie in variety and variety alone” (as variety Churchill meant variety of oil suppliers.)1 In fact, in converting the British Navy from coal-power to fuel oil in order to make the fleet faster than the German Navy, Churchill implicitly recognized that the sources diversification had to be pursued (and a new vulnerability had been created): coal was a domestic source of fuel but oil had to be imported. Nowadays, the concept of energy security is indeed richer thanks to the inclusion and development of many new factors, of which daily interactions among nations and the increasingly global level of their relationship undoubtedly rank among the more significant ones. Throughout the years, several descriptions of energy security have been provided. To mention a few, in 2004, the following characterization was given by professors Barton, Redgwell, Ronne and Zillman: “a condition in which a nation and all, or most, of its citizens and businesses have access to sufficient energy resources at reasonable prices for the foreseeable future free form serious risk of major disruption of services”.2 In 2006, a similar definition was given by Daniel Yergin: “availability of sufficient supplies at affordable prices”3. A close construction to the above is maintained in the definitions adopted by some international organizations. The Energy International Agency defines the energy security as “the uninterrupted availability of energy sources at an affordable price”4 , whilst according to the European Commission, the energy security is “the availability of energy at all times in various forms, in sufficient quantities and at reasonable and/or affordable prices”5. Lastly, according to the Congress of United States, the energy security is “the ability of U.S. households and businesses to accommodate disruptions of supply in energy markets”6. Notwithstanding as correctly stated by the Department of Energy and Climate Change of the UK Government about the imperfection of a definition of energy security7, from the above two main common elements emerge which may ideally provide for a catch-all concept (thus valid regardless of its geographical or sector-specific application), namely: a) the reliability in the supply of the energy raw materials, meaning its physical dispatch from the production site to the utilization site and b) their affordability, meaning their reasonably economic availability, as such disrupted to the least possible extent by unforeseeable and/or substantial price variations which may lead to the destabilization of the involved economies. Risks affecting the energy security The above elements are dealt with by any single state depending on whether any such state is an energy producer or energy importer. In fact, both types of countries are equally affected whenever an imbalance occurs (both producers and importers are interdependent), although the risks they face are different. In the producing countries, the power industry normally represents a high percentage of the GDP, as well as a large part of their export; proceeds from the energy export normally make up for a substantial part – often the entirety – of the state income and are practically the tool whereby the political regimes ensure their support from the populations. In such a context, keeping steady export outflows – along with regular money inflows – represents a fundamental condition for the economic and political stability of the producing countries.8 In the importing countries, governments are mainly concerned about guaranteeing reliable energy inflows at reasonable prices; therefore, substantial efforts are employed in keeping up a long-lasting, high level diplomacy activity with the producing countries as well as designing solutions aimed at reducing the dependence on external energy sources. From the above it may therefore be easily inferred that both for the producing countries and the importing ones the power resources are so important that a reciprocal security is needed and pursued; the motto “commercium et pax” as guarantee of a peaceful and stable social and commercial growth is actively followed.9 Generally speaking, the energy security is threatened by two different kinds of risk: physical risks and economic risks. The physical risks are related to the reliability of the resources, namely to the maintenance of a regular flow of resources; as a matter of fact, the transportation infrastructures may be damaged, be object of attacks or be blocked - mainly the gas pipelines – by the countries where resources pass through. Such circumstances may equally harm both producing and importing countries. The economic risks are related to the affordability of the resources, namely to their reasonably economic availability. By definition, the energy consumption is rigid with respect to price, mainly in case of price increase. Such rigidity has two main implications; in the short term, consumers do not vary their consumption in proportion to a price variation, whilst, in the long term, their response aim at structurally modifying the demand for energy, both by increasing the energy efficiency or diversifying the energy sources. For the producing countries, both positive and negative price variations represent a risk, namely if they are unforeseen and excessive. As a matter of fact, a price slump entails a payments-related issue and, as a consequence, may lead to the political destabilization of the regimes which base their consensus on the proceeds linked to the energy resources supply. Likewise, a price increase poses a serious threat, since the increase of energy efficiency or the sources diversification in the importing country may represent a permanent shrinking of the demand, thus reducing the money inflows.10 Essential elements of the European States’ energy security policy Limiting this analysis to Europe (although the below elements may well be referred to a vast majority of worldwide states), as a response to the political, social and economic issues which have negatively affected or otherwise shaken the European energy security in the last 10 years (namely hydrocarbons price increase, gas crisis in the Eastern Europe, Chinese economic boom, increasing focus on the climate change, financial and real estate crisis), the following may be considered as the very essential elements of the European states’ energy security policy: Diversification of energy mix In order to decreasingly depend from single energy sources, mainly fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal), States have started to diversify their national energy share through the development of alternative energy sources, such as the nuclear and the renewable energies (wind, hydro, photovoltaic and so on). The energy diversification has become a repeated mantra and as such renowned energy business personalities very often highlight its significance. In this sense, it is worth to mention Mr. Fulvio Conti11 who, in the 2008 International Energy Forum held in Rome, stressed that fostering the investments in diversification of energy mix as well as in new infrastructures for energy production is of paramount importance in order to guarantee an adequate, secure, sustainable and cheaper energy supply.12 The diversification will also serve for the purposes of ensuring the human development while preserving the environment; as a matter of fact, the use of alternative energy sources will help to reduce the current level of CO2, which is in line with the climate and energy package promoted by the European Union. Diversification of suppliers Mainly in the gas sector, the collaboration among States has led to the launch of different projects (North Stream, South Stream, TAP), with the aim at reducing the dependence from the vagaries of the relationship between Russia and the countries where the Russian gas passes through. Such kind of diversification is undoubtedly positive; however, it should be coupled with other measures like, for instance, a greater transport capacity liberalization which may be achieved by amending the gas contracts through a reassessment of the final destination clauses, which in fact restrict the possibility of buyers to resell gas outside their respective territories. Decrease of internal consumption and increase of energy efficiency Both elements are being tackled by the States under the collective approach at the level of the European Union. As regards the internal consumption, one of the strategy targets for tackling climate change before 2020 is the energy cut by 20%. In this respect, the Performance of Buildings Directive (Directive 2010/31/EU) clearly indicates that, accounting buildings for 40 % of total energy consumption in the European Union, the reduction of energy consumption and the use of energy from renewable sources in the buildings sector constitute important measures needed to reduce the EU’s energy dependency and greenhouse gas emissions. On energy efficiency, the Directive on energy efficiency (Directive 2012/27/EU) specifically requires the Member States to implement a series of tasks with the aim at addressing the challenges resulting from the increased dependence on energy imports and scarce energy resources and the need to limit climate change and to overcome the economic crisis. On energy efficiency it is also worth to highlight that a really efficient system cannot be achieved without a transparent and effective management of the cross-border power flows as well as the network congestions; a sustainable, integrated power infrastructure network at the European level should therefore be promoted and implemented. A slightly different approach: The stance of the United Kingdom According to a recent Energy Index (International Index of Energy Security Risk) compiled by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for 21st Century Energy, the United Kingdom ranks second (behind Mexico) in a list of 24 countries that make up the large energy user group13. Since the 1980s, the United Kingdom has scored consistently in the top three most energy secure countries in the group of large energy users and it has been the most energy secure of the European countries. The United Kingdom is a large energy producer as well as a large energy consumer and it has significant quantities of oil, gas, and coal resources. It is the second largest producer of crude oil in Europe after Norway and was until recently Europe’s second largest producer of natural gas also after Norway—it is now third behind the Netherlands. Being the United Kingdom a large energy producer, the analysis on whether such country has achieved the above elements must necessarily be put forward in conjunction with its position. In fact, the diversification of energy mix is not considered such a primary and urgent goal as in other European countries; the country boasts and actively exploits oil and gas reserves currently existing in the North Sea, which, although shrinking, make it less dependent than other countries on external exports and ensure a significant contribution to the energy needs for many years to come.14 This is the reason why the current UK energy policy stands for a maximization of the economic production of the oil and gas reserves, rather than heavily focusing on the mix diversification. The declining production in the North Sea is in any case prompting the UK energy diplomacy to provide help in improving the reliability of global energy markets and actively search for a sources diversification through bilateral relationships and multilateral initiatives as well as by encouraging greater liberalization of the markets and strengthening trading links and infrastructure; in this sense, the United Kingdom government continuously cooperates with the EU authorities and is increasingly becoming part of more interconnected networks both in the EU and beyond. As regards the energy efficiency, such element represents a pillar of the UK Energy Security Strategy15. As such, initiatives such as smart meters and smart grids are in place in order to deliver a more sustainable and secure energy system, lower the exposure to domestic and international energy market risks and reduce the UK’s dependence on oil and gas. 1 Daniel Yergin, Ensuring Energy Security, in “Foreign Affairs”, 85, 2, 2006, p. 69 2 Barry Barton, Catherine Redgwell, Anita Ronne and Donald N. Zillman, Energy security: managing risk in a dynamic and regulatory environment, Oxford, Oxfor University Press, 2004, p. 5 3 Daniel Yergin, Ensuring Energy Security, in “Foreign Affairs”, 85, 2, 2006, pp. 70-71 4 http://www.iea.org/topics/energysecurity/ 5 Cited in Robert Skinner and Robert Arnott, EUROGULF: an EU–GCC dialogue for energy stability and sustainability, http://ec.europa.eu/energy/green-paper-energy-supply/doc/studies/2005_04_eurogulf_kuwait_en.pdf 6 http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/05-09-EnergySecurity.pdf 7 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/65643/7101-energy-security-strategy.pdf , pag. 5 8 Matteo Verda, Politica estera e sicurezza energetica - L’esperienza europea, il gas naturale e il ruolo della Russia, ed. Epoké, 2012, p. 38 ss. 9 Michael Novak, Does the free market corrode moral character?, John Templeton Foundation http://www.templeton.org/market/PDF/Novak.pdf 10 Matteo Verda, La sicurezza energetica ed i paesi produttori, Istituto per gli studi di politica internazionale (ISPI), Policy Brief, no. 213 – December 2011 11 Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of Enel S.p.A. Enel S.p.A. is the industrial holding of the Enel Group, a multinational group based in Italy, a leading integrated player in the power and gas markets of Europe and Latin America, operating in 40 countries across 4 continents. 12 http://www.enel.com/en-GB/media/press_releases/fulvio-conti-illustrates-the-terms-of-the-147-energy-equation-148-at-the-international-energy-forum-in-rome/r/1594930/ 13 http://www.energyxxi.org/sites/default/files/InternationalIndex2012.pdf 14 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-security-strategy , pag. 20 15 The Energy Efficiency Strategy: The Energy Efficiency Opportunity in the UK, DECC 2012. http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/tackling/saving_energy/what_doing/eedo/eedo.aspx Author - Valerio Abbagnara valerio.abbagnara@enel.com Tags European Union, Energy & Natural Resources, Environment, Enel SpA View original Adobe PDF file | Forward | Print | Read later inShare0 If you are interested in submitting an article to Lexology, please contact Andrew Teague at ateague@lexology.com. Related European Union articles Energy trends for 2012 * Energy security: cooperation between Ukraine and the European Union * EU Southern Corridor Summit creates the ‘New Silk Road’ * EU’s energy policy: latest developments * EU publishes its Second Strategic Energy Review * More articles » Related international articles Popular articles from this firm "An excellent service!" Sonja Sarantis Legal Counsel State Street Bank and Trust CompanySegnalo un contributo di Valerio Abbagnara (Enel) dal titolo General overview on the essential elements of the European states’ energy security policy.

Dopo una parte introduttiva che ricostruisce brevemente il concetto di sicurezza energetica e gli elementi di rischio, l’articolo si concentra sulla strategie di mitigazione dei Paesi europei e su un’analisi più ravvicinata del caso britannico.

Sul concetto di sicurezza energetica

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Christian Winzer - Conceptualizing Energy SecuritySegnalo un working paper di Christian Winzer pubblicato per l’Electricity Policy Research Group dal titolo Conceptualizing Energy Security.

Il paper affronta in modo diretto ed efficace la varietà di definizioni e misurazioni del concetto di sicurezza energetica e arriva a un nocciolo condiviso da cui partire per ulteriori riflessioni («the continuity of energy supplies relative to demand»).

Interessante anche l’appendice dedicata alla raccolta delle definizioni presenti in letteratura.