European Energy Sector calls on the EU to safeguard the benefits of the Internal Energy Market

Five European Energy Associations have co-signed a letter to the European Commission asking decision makers to avoid harmful short-term interventionist measures in the market.

This afternoon EU Energy Ministers are holding an extraordinary meeting around the energy situation in the EU, in context of the Russian war on Ukraine.

Ahead of this discussion, SolarPower Europe joins key players in the European energy sector to call for European policymakers to recognize the only real sustainable solution to the current energy price crisis: a massive shift away from fossil fuels.  

In March 2022, the European Commission set out several options for emergency measures to limit the impact of high electricity prices, as put forward by Member States, noting that all measures carried costs and drawbacks. This letter, signed by EFET, Eurelectric, Europex, SolarPower Europe, and WindEurope outline the risks of interventions into wholesale energy prices; impairing market capacity to deliver efficient supply/demand balance, increasing the cost of the energy transition, harming suppliers and investors, and reducing the welfare and climate protections of integrated European energy markets.

The letter welcomes and encourages the European Commission’s leadership in the energy crisis, and the ACER final assessment of EU Electricity Market Design, which reflects the broad consensus on the benefits of an integrated electricity market.

Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of SolarPower Europe said:

“Following Gazprom’s decision to stop supplying gas to two EU member states, it is clear that the only way out of the energy crisis is to massively deploy alternative, renewable, energies. More than ever, we need clear and stable market signals to accelerate the investment volumes into the energy infrastructure we need.

With other measures on the table, interfering in electricity market pricing is unnecessary, and would send long-lasting detrimental signals around renewable investment. The solar industry is ready to step up and deliver 1 TW of EU solar capacity within the decade, to shield Europeans from fossil-fuel volatility.”