At least in part yes, according to one report Ember's study, a group of experts that conducts research on the use and production of energy in various countries around the world.
The share of renewable sources in the European Union is increasing, just think that in the summer of 2024 solar and wind energy satisfied about 20% of the demand during daytime hours. At other times of the day, however, the situation is different: taking Germany as an example, between 2021 and 2024 the share of fossil sources fell from 36% to 20% in the early afternoon, while in the evening it only went from 47% to 44%.
This data is emblematic, because it depends directly on the poor capacity to store clean energy to use it when external conditions do not favor its production, due to the lack of light or wind. Greater clean flexibility (as it is defined) would reduce the waste of renewable energy and speed up the fundamental process of energy transition. Ember estimates that EU could save €9 billion a year on gas purchases only by making better use of excess wind and solar energy.
The key to making this change happen is the storage systems, essentially batteries that allow you to store the energy produced and not consumed during the day to use it at a later time. The technological progress of these systems is essential if we consider that in 2030, according to Ember's forecasts, renewable energy generated by wind and photovoltaic plants will cover almost half of Europe's needs. However, this availability will be partly wasted if the efficiency of storage systems is not optimized.
The case of California better illustrates the impact of batteries on energy source shares: in the last five years, the capacity of storage systems has increased thirteenfold, reaching 10 GW, and this has allowed the dependence of gas from fossil fuels in the evening hours to be reduced by about half compared to 2021. As mentioned, if the EU were able to follow this example, it would not only be good for the planet in terms of environmental sustainability, but would also significantly reduce the costs of importing gas.
Meanwhile, despite the development of renewable sources, in Italy final energy prices continue to be higher compared to most other European countries. In 2023 we paid 38,64 cents per kWh, second only to German households who paid 42,03. As Switcho explains, portal for the analysis of electricity and gas bills, this mainly depends on three factors:
- La dependence on natural gas imports as an energy source, although decreasing, it is still very high.
- Le weather and climate conditions they do not always favor the production of renewable energy with wind and photovoltaic systems.
- There is also the system burden paradox, a fixed component of the bill that goes to finance various costs including the development of renewable energy. In essence, we are paying for energy transition interventions but we are not yet receiving the economic benefits.