EDP CEO warns EU about lost urgency in energy security and renewables push

The European Union has lost its sense of urgency in addressing energy security. Bureaucracy is still preventing the bloc to reduce costly energy imports and slowing down renewable energy projects.

Miguel Stilwell d'Andrade (CEO of one of Europe's biggest renewable power producers) told reporters that companies are struggling to build enough wind and solar assets to replace imported fossil energy sources.

He said that we need to be more efficient in licensing and permits and remove the bureaucracy.

"The pace of growth of renewables should be twice as fast in Europe than it is... The sense of urgency has been lost."

He said that energy companies have the technology and capital to deploy renewables rapidly, but they are hindered by slow approvals. He said that projects can take up to six years to obtain permits, but only 12-18 month to build.

"Immediately after the war in Ukraine, everyone had a war-like mentality. I don't think we have the urgency to do anything.

HEAVY RELYENCE STILL ON IMPORTED GIGASS

Stilwell D'Andrade stated that Europe's heavy dependence on imported gas is its greatest competitive disadvantage, as the prices are many?times more expensive than in the United States. Europe needs to increase its wind, solar, and battery capacities in order to reduce its dependence on imported fuels, whether they are from Russia, the United States, or anywhere else.

He said, "We've realized energy can be weaponized and Europe should have its own independent energy."

He said that due to the policy uncertainty in?the United States EDP had put three U.S. off-shore wind projects into a "hibernation mode".

He said that for solar projects, the company had shifted the'supply chain' of solar panels from China to the U.S. several years ago. As a result, the new U.S. Tariffs only had a marginal impact on the capital expenditures in the U.S.

He said that Iberia is the fastest-growing market in Europe for data centers, thanks to the cheap renewable energy. However, he warned the continent about the "embarrassing situation" of the lack a major interconnector for power between Spain and France.

He said that EDP was in favor of keeping the current timetable for closing reactors by 2035.

(source: Reuters)