Liquefied natural gas (LNG) isn’t the only thing we’re exporting abroad. Broadly-speaking, our energy policies are equally catching on.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright invoked the late President Ronald Reagan’s “A Time for Choosing Speech” during his keynote address at the Three Seas Business Forum in Warsaw, Poland, last month. He warned attendees that Europe is at an energy crossroads and has two paths: the path towards energy realism or continuing down the path to net-zero.
“Central Europe faces a time for choosing. You all have a long history of choosing freedom and sovereignty for your citizens,” Wright remarked. “We warmly welcome you to join us on Team Energy Freedom and prosperity for citizens. President Trump’s agenda of prosperity at home and peace abroad is a team sport!”
Wright’s speech came at an interesting time: It occurred the same day as the April 28th Iberian Peninsula blackout - the massive power outage that paralyzed Spain, Portugal, and parts of France and left them without electricity for hours. The mishap is rightfully being blamed on the region relying primarily on solar power. This catastrophe prompted Bloomberg opinion columnist Javier Blas to dub this event “the first big blackout of the green electricity era.”
Spain’s socialist government, however, was in denial about renewables inviting this monumental outage. REE President Beatriz Corredor remarked: “Relating Monday’s [April 28th] serious incident to the spike in renewables is not correct.” However, a former REE president criticized his successor in an op-ed, writing, “No one can say they didn't know that the massive integration of renewables … required significant changes in regulations, grid investment, and system and operator procedures if the goal was to continue guaranteeing supply and reduce the risk of a blackout.”
But Spain isn’t alone in its embrace of unreliable energy sources. All 27 European Union (EU) member states have signed onto the Green Deal to make Europe the first carbon neutral continent. Yet, Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and growing global electricity demand are forcing many Green Deal signers to reassess utility-scale solar and wind projects mandated by this initiative.
Is the EU bloc getting serious about decoupling from Russia on energy? Earlier this week, the E.U. announced a new roadmap pledging to fully wean itself off of Russian oil, gas, and nuclear energy. The announcement says the 27-member union “will see a gradual removal of Russian oil, gas and nuclear energy from the EU markets in a coordinated and secure manner as the EU transitions to clean energy.”
While cutting dependence on Russian energy is laudable and necessary, the insistence to pivot to “clean energy” replacements could invite further reliance on the aggressor. Why? Utility-scale solar and wind are part-time sources. Baseload power must be reliable, abundant, and secure. Only nuclear energy fits the definition of being a scalable “clean energy” source, since it works 93% of the year without interruptions. Even natural gas and the oft-vilified coal are more reliable, abundant, and secure than the aforementioned renewables. Yet, some EU nations have shut down power plants - including nuclear plants - in the name of decarbonization. Talk about a self-inflicted problem.
As I warned here at Townhall back in February, “European efforts to achieve energy independence will be undermined with continued reliance on intermittent solar and wind energy. As part-time sources, working for 25% and 35% of the year, respectively, these so-called clean energy sources aren’t secure and imperil grid stability. That breeds energy insecurity and will make European nations more dependent on Russian energy.”
The 2022 REPowerEU Plan claims to have lowered Russian gas imports entering the continent from 45% down to 19%. But some member states - including Spain - still rely on these imports, ironically funding continued Russian aggression in Ukraine.
The E.U., however, isn’t a monolith on energy: several members have already declared their independence from Russian energy and electricity before it was popular and en vogue. The Baltic Republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania fully untethered themselves from Russia’s grid earlier this year and cut off oil and gas imports several years ago.
A new Reuters report, citing eight anonymous sources, claims the U.S. is in talks with Russia to restore gas flows to Europe. I doubt the veracity of this report, yet it begs the question: Why would we support this move? Realistically, we wouldn’t. It’s against current U.S. policy that prioritizes energy abundance and dominance. This would undercut our energy goals and reward a bad actor. Lest we forget President Trump sanctioned the NordStream2 pipeline during his first administration. Russia should be isolated–not emboldened. C’mon, Reuters!
That said, the U.S. is in a good position to supply LNG to our friends in Europe. Not to mention to Asia through the prospective Alaska LNG project. Lithuania and Poland have entered agreements with the U.S. to boost civilian nuclear power plants in both nations. And more joint cooperations on energy are expected in the coming months and years.
Markets, energy companies, and the American public are moving away from net-zero. The rest of the world - especially our friends in Europe - should follow our lead, too.
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