REPowerEU: the EU’s complete rejection of Russian energy resources
The REPowerEU roadmap, presented by the European Commission, aims to ensure the EU’s full energy independence from Russia.
The Bioenergy Association of Ukraine hopes that this important step will also accelerate the export of biomethane from Ukraine to the EU. Our colleagues from the European Biogas Association (EBA) also support the REPowerEU roadmap as an important step towards energy independence and the expansion of renewable gas use.
Replacement of natural gas
The EU is expected to be able to replace up to 100 billion cubic meters of natural gas by 2030. This means a decrease in demand by 40-50 billion cubic meters by 2027.
At the same time, LNG capacities are expected to increase by around 200 bcm by 2028, which is five times more than current EU imports of Russian gas.
Biomethane should not be forgotten, as well, as the prospect of biomethane in the EU by 2030, according to the RePowerEU plan, is 35 billion m3/year. Moreover, Ukraine is also increasing its biomethane production capacity. Already this year, if all the planned plants are launched, Ukraine will be able to produce more than 100 million cubic meters of biomethane per year.
Coordinated and stepwise phase-out
The Commission will work with the Member States to ensure that the EU-wide phaseout of Russian energy imports will be gradual and well-coordinated across the Union. They will be asked to prepare national plans by the end of this year setting out how they will contribute to phasing out imports of Russian gas, nuclear energy and oil.
It is notable that a Biogas summit will also take place in Budapest at the end of this month. A number of representatives of government, business, associations and other stakeholders will discuss the potential of biogas and biomethane in the EU’s energy transition.
The rejection process
New contracts with suppliers of Russian gas (pipeline and LNG) will be prevented, and existing spot contracts will be stopped by the end of 2025. This measure will ensure that already by the end of this year, the EU will have slashed by one third remaining supplies of Russian gas. The Commission will further propose to stop all remaining imports of Russian gas by the end of 2027.
Under the Roadmap, the Commission will also put forward new actions to address Russia’s shadow fleet transporting oil. As regards nuclear, the proposals coming next month will include measures on Russian imports of enriched uranium.
The steps taken
Measures taken so far have reduced the volumes of imported Russian gas from 150 bcm in 2021 to 52 bcm in 2024 – with the share of Russian gas imports dropping from 45% to 19%.
All imports of Russian coal have been banned by sanctions; oil imports have shrunk from 27% at the beginning of 2022 to 3% now. In nuclear, Member States that are still using Russian-designed VVER reactors have made progress in replacing Russian nuclear fuel with fuel from other producers.
This step demonstrates again the necessity for the EU to develop local renewable energy, including biogas and biomethane production. Ukraine, as the country with the largest biomethane production potential in Europe, will be able to meet up to 20% of the EU’s biomethane needs by 2050.
