In the fall of 2021, when Moscow significantly reduced its flows Russian gas To Europe and her danger was clear Russian invasion of Ukraine, the EU’s plan to wean itself off Russian hydrocarbons seemed extremely ambitious and difficult. However, the speed with which the Old Continent has managed to end its energy romance with its energy-rich neighbor and become independent of Russian natural gas is impressive. And, of course, it was not a process equivalent to Europe’s attempt to deal with it. changing of the climatebecause governments were willing to pay whatever it took to provide alternative sources of energy and, above all, liquefied natural gasalso use much more coal and postpone some of their environmental plans to the distant future. And the process was painful, because last year Europe had to pay somewhere around a trillion. dollars for energy and to address this unsustainable bill received hundreds of billions of euros in subsidies from governments.

However, even the most optimistic people could not predict how fast Europe would move. Just a year ago, Europe was spending about 1 billion euros a day paying for the gas, oil and coal it imported from Russia. Today he pays only a fraction of that amount. The situation would be much more difficult if it did not coincide with Europe’s clean energy transition that began a few years ago. And this is the reason why, while the EU was looking for any energy resource other than Russia, emissions in 2022, instead of rising, slightly decreased. Of course, a mild winter due to climate change also played a role as it reduced the need for heating while at the same time forcing polluting industries to shut down as they couldn’t afford the cost of energy. But the past year has certainly taught us that it is possible to accelerate the development of photovoltaic cells and batteries, reduce energy consumption, and completely phase out fossil fuels.

establishments photovoltaics across Europe are up 35% from 2021 levels to a record 40 gigawatts and are within reach of BloombergNEF analysts’ upbeat scenario. This is largely due to the fact that consumers are choosing solar energy to lower their energy bills. Thus, they have spurred the sector up to a level that will be supported by EU policy. Many have not just installed photovoltaic cells, they have also added batteries. Battery storage has grown 79% over the past year, and much of that is attributable to residential installations, which saw a 95% increase, according to BloombergNEF. And this growth did not stop even when the price of batteries first began to rise. There was also an increase in the production of wind energy, however, not reaching the forecasts. And this happened because inflation hit the wind industry more than the solar industry. However, combined with delays in licensing and various regulations, the result was that the industry developed much later and less than it could have. But, as Oliver Metcalfe, an analyst at BNEF, points out, “the energy crisis has forced politicians to sort through permitting difficulties.”

The number of photovoltaic installations in Europe increased by 35% in 2022 compared to 2021, reaching an all-time high of 40 gigawatts.

No increase in renewable energy production will ever be enough to replace the oil, gas and coal we are so rapidly importing from Russia.

However, the most important factor was the decline in demand for gas from both industry and the population. As fuel prices skyrocketed, some industries, such as fertilizer, found it unprofitable to operate and shut down, while others found alternative energy sources. Thus, gas consumption decreased by 18% compared to 2021, when in 2020, the year of the pandemic and the first severe restrictions, it was reduced by 14%. So did domestic heating demand, which also fell 15%, according to BloombergNEF. Again, EU GDP grew at an annualized rate of 3.5%, slightly less than the 4% growth forecast before the war. Until autumn, everyone thought that the EU had not managed to avoid a recession, but now EU economists are predicting growth of 0.9% in 2023.