The European Union must diversify energy supply by focusing on Central Asian gas and African potential for renewable energy sources, while integrating gas and electricity grids into a European supergrid to spur energy security, according to a draft of a strategic energy review seen by Dow Jones Newswires.
The document, due for publication Thursday, sets Central Asia as a key priority. A 3,300-kilometer pipeline project from Turkey to Austria potentially supplying the E.U. with gas from Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Iraq could become a significant source of gas supply.
Africa could become another key source of energy, once Europe creates closer electricity and gas grid connections, the commission will say. This would allow the use of gas potentially coming to the Mediterranean from Sub-Saharian countries and "develop the region's vast solar and wind energy potential."
The E.U. wants to ease its dependence on Russian gas, which accounts for about 42% of the bloc's imports.
National grids must be interconnected to create a European supergrid and renewable energy must be a central part of supply, the commission will say.
The development of offshore wind turbines in the North Sea and their inclusion in the bloc's electricity grid would be a first building block toward a supergrid, the commission will say. Baltic countries, which are currently isolated from the rest of the E.U., should be integrated into the E.U. gas and electricity grids as an early priority.
The commission will also highlight ambitious targets to 2050, including completely eliminating emissions of greenhouse gases within the E.U. electricity sector by increasing the use of renewable sources and implementing a technology to capture CO2.
Ending oil dependence in the transportation sector by shifting to electricity, hydrogen or other fuels is another target the commission will set for 2050, according to the document.