Thinking beyond national borders for renewable energy solutions in Central Europe
Thinking beyond national borders for renewable energy solutions in Central Europe

Author(s): Veronika Oravcová, Alžbeta Gavalcová, Nolan Theisen
Subject(s): Energy and Environmental Studies, Environmental and Energy policy, International relations/trade, Environmental interactions
Published by: Research Center of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association (RC SFPA)
Keywords: national borders; renewable energy; solutions; Central Europe;
Summary/Abstract: In May 2022, within a few months of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, the EU announced its landmark RE - PowerEU plan, a collective agreement and guidebook to end the bloc’s dependency on Russian energy imports by 2027. This would have been an absolutely inconceivable scenario anytime leading up to 24 February 2022, despite Gazprom’s well documented natural gas supply provocations and interruptions over the past decade plus. This new energy reality has changed the narrative surrounding natural gas, which was widely promoted in Europe, especially in the most dependent Central Europe - an member states, as a transitional fuel to rapidly phase our coal, despite being an unsustainable methane emit - ting fossil fuel. With financial ramifications of the historic natural gas price spikes in 2022 still reverberating and facing a new normal of increased volatility with growing exposure to the global LNG market, countries are following the EU lead to focus attention on energy efficiency and domestic renewable energy sources (RES) to reduce and bypass further dependency on natural gas.

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