The EU executive's communication on financing low-carbon technologies was originally foreseen for the end of 2008. But after postponing the release date several times, the Commission now says it will be published in September or early October.
The Commission proposed the SET Plan in November 2007 in an attempt to stimulate energy research in the EU. It was concerned that Europe was only going to fall further behind the US and other major economies in the race to win a stake in the growing global market for low-carbon technologies, particularly as EU research budgets kept declining and businesses were unable to attract venture capital (EurActiv 23/11/07).
The SET Plan brings together a patchwork of EU energy research policies in renewables, clean coal, smart grids and nuclear energy in order to encourage more cooperation and increase resources. But the accompanying proposal on how to finance all the initiatives has been delayed several times.
Prepared by three Commission DGs – energy, research, and economic and financial affairs – the document has become mired in the EU executive's bureaucracy. Sources following the drafting told EurActiv that Janez Potočnik had been keen to publish the paper before his departure as research commissioner, while DG Energy would be interested in consulting stakeholders over the summer on so-called 'Technology Roadmaps'.
These documents, developed by the Joint Research Centre, will form the backbone of assessments of financing needs. They describe the current status of key low-carbon energy technologies and their future prospects, including emissions reduction potential and barriers to market penetration.
The communication will define the financing needs for each industry and compare these with what is already available or in the pipeline, according to an official from DG Energy. Once the remaining gap is identified, it will propose new sources of funding to bridge it.
As the document is still under preparation, it is not yet clear what these "new sources" will be. But the communication will most likely aggregate existing Community instruments, including the 7th Framework Programme (FP7), Trans-European Energy Networks (TEN-E) and various European Investment Bank (EIB) vehicles.
Gathering momentum
Energy research will be under the spotlight this autumn, as the Swedish EU Presidency will organise a SET Plan conference in Stockholm on 21-22 October.
The meeting, bringing together policymakers, industry, researchers and the financial community, will discuss how to move forward with the plan's objectives and consider financing. A separate session will be devoted to each of the technologies set out in the plan: wind, solar, bioenergy, carbon capture and storage (CCS), nuclear and smart grids.
Moreover, a website concentrating specifically on the technology roadmaps will be launched around the same time as the financing communication comes out.
