"Fukushima has basically increased the probability of Nabucco," Günther Oettinger told reporters on the sidelines of the Handelsblatt renewable energy conference.
After several setbacks this year have deepened doubts about the project – under discussion since 2002 – Germany's decision to kill nuclear power by 2022 following Japan's nuclear disaster and progress in talks with supplier Azerbaijan have revived Nabucco.
Key partner in trouble?
RWE , Europe's fifth-largest utility, is planning to participate in the Nabucco gas pipeline, a project competing with Gazprom's South Stream gas pipeline. At the same time, RWE said in July it secured exclusive talks with Gazprom that could lead to a gas and coal power joint venture in Germany, Britain and the Benelux countries.
"I trust that RWE stays on board [of the Nabucco project] and that the partnership with Gazprom will still be tested," Oettinger added.
Nabucco plans to deliver up to 31 billion cubic metres of gas per year from the Caspian region to an Austrian hub, aiming to start transporting gas from 2017.
Its backers in May said it would cost more than its target of €7.9 billion. The link aims to ease Europe's reliance on Russian gas by delivering supplies through a new southern route.
EurActiv with Reuters
COMMENTS
This article points out the real difficulty of European political leaders to look beyond an energy strategy that primarily focuses on big and costly infrastructural energy projects. In light of the economic conjuncture, EU leaders should give priority to less costly and more sustainable energy efficiency investments in key industrial sectors like construction, transport, ICT and services.
This is not a question of one or the other, energy efficient investments are the simplest, the fastest and the cheapest way to save resources which could then be channelled into energy infrastructural projects like Nabucco but also into renewables and other carbon free technologies. Investing more political energy on energy efficiency would also help to ease our dependency on foreign energy imports.
In light of recent events, Europe' s political leaders need now to put in place a stable and ambitious regulatory framework for our first fuel, energy efficiency. Saving energy is the most cost-effective and immediate solution to our current energy and economic challenges.
In Germany, if every corporate PC had energy saving software installed on it, the economy could save approximately €1.9 billion per year in energy costs and reduce carbon emissions by around 9.1 metric tonnes of CO2. The figures speak for themselves.
Monica Frassoni
President of the European Alliance to Save Energy
www.euase.eu
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