EDITORIAL Mike Halls • editor@batteriesinternational.com
What the Ukraine invasion means for the battery business In just a few months Europe’s energy strategy has been turned completely on its head. The main reason, of course, being the Russian invasion of the Ukraine and the attendant energy crisis. After Russia attacked on February 24, the reaction from the West was rapid: unprecedented sanctions, a blocking of interbank and international transfers and a huge host of trade embargoes. The economic punishment being meted out was complicated by the fact that Europe was dependent on Russian natural gas. Gazprom, Russia’s majority state owned energy firm, controls the flow of gas to the region. Last year Europe imported around 155 billion cubic metres of natural gas — that’s just under half of Europe’s supply. And let’s not forget that the region imports about 2-1/2 million barrels a day of Russian oil. It’s a straightforward dilemma. The problem for Europe is this: how can it inflict economic pain on Russia without hurting itself? The short-term answer is it can’t. But longer term it’s a different picture, if the right actions are taken. “Forget COP26, forget climate change, forget the circular economy and forget the old plans for the orderly energy transition the EU has been talking about,” one commentator told this magazine. “The new economic instrument of war is going to be found in renewables — and in their corollary energy storage. “Every megawatt of energy storage added to Europe’s reserves is now being priced against every cubic metre of Russian gas sold to the region. One unexpected consequence of the tragedy in the Ukraine is the massive boost to renewables and storage.”
The new economic instrument of war is going to be found in renewables — and in their corollary energy storage.” 4 • Batteries International • Spring 2022
This new way of thinking has affected the whole of the European renewable and storage industry. Pressure to create change is coming from the top of the EU, governmental levels and among businesses rushing to do business. One immediate spin-off is that energy projects are being priced — and subsidized — at levels that would have not been contemplated before the Russian invasion. An orderly, if somewhat all-mouth and littleaction commitment to the energy transition is being turned into something more determined. Indeed, the European Commission, the unelected civil servants that set the rules for the EU, has now recommended that battery storage and renewables projects should be fast-tracked and planning red tape slashed, all in the name of combating a looming energy crisis. At the heart of EU policy changes will be Germany. It has already reduced its consumption of Russian gas to 35% of imports from 55% before the war in Ukraine, but says it needs to keep buying from Moscow at least until next year to avoid a deep recession. But there is, perversely, good that is to come out of the needlessness of this conflict. In its most obvious way it will be the growing independence Europe’s energy security. But there are two other benefits to come for Europe — and the world — arising from this war. The joys of science The first are the scientific advancements we can expect soon. The two world wars of the last century injected a technological fire into the march of scientific progress. Legacies of WW2 include radar, the jet airplane, penicillin and much more. (It also includes nuclear power, microwave cooking and …duct tape!) The interesting thing to note is that many of these legacies had been discovered well before the conflict and had largely been side-lined — Frank Whittle filed his first patent for the www.batteriesinternational.com
