Written by Kunal Sawnhey, Kalkine Media

The escalation of the war between Ukraine and Russia has made energy security a major topic of discussion for many countries. Europe, which is highly dependent on gas imports from Russia is going to float a proposal to pace up the clean energy transition and reduce its dependence on natural gas imports forever.

Britain, at the same time, has announced that the nation need not worry about the lower supplies with Russian shipments getting slashed. Business Secretary Kwarteng’s statement that Britain does not have to worry about the decline in supplies, but the prices are true. The UK is fortunate to have its majority of gas supplies coming from the North Sea, with reliance on Norway for import. However, the benchmark for UK gas prices is the prevailing price in the continent, so the impact will soon be visible on the household energy bills.

Green transition to take a hit

Britain boasting the North Sea as the single largest source of its gas is going to have a severe impact on its net-zero target. There are plans to expand oil and gas drilling in the North Sea. It was reported that Chancellor Rishi Sunak had urged the Business Secretary to speed up the licenses for six new oil and gas fields in the region. The government may be of the view that stopping domestic production in such an uncertain world can raise the gloom as far as energy security is concerned but transition away from fossil fuels is going to take a big hit.

In the long run, Britain’s present emphasis on fossil fuels may present a higher risk as gas is more expensive than renewables, and sustainable energy security can come from renewables only. Barely a few months back, during COP26 climate conference, where there was a global agreement to accelerate action on climate change, UK’s action can raise doubt about its intentions to renewables transition.

Dependence on gas can be reduced by renewables

There has been a continuous increase in oil and gas prices, and with fears that Russia may try to restrict supplies of natural gas in response to additional rounds of sanctions, there could be a further rise in prices. Gas contributes a good over 20 per cent of Europe’s electricity generation 35 per cent of total Russian gas imports. EU’s vow to transition to renewables is undoubtedly going to help, as historically it has been seen that renewables have helped in replacing gas more than coal.

If the right policy framework is put in place, its impact can be seen in just 4-5 years though not immediately. The International Energy Agency (IEA) in its latest release, has come up with a ten-point plan, suggesting ways to reduce reliance on Russian gas by a third in just one year. It may be too early to comment, but one of its plans of the deployment of new wind and solar projects can be focused on. It has worked for both types of countries, with high solar potential and with low solar potential equally, supported by clear government policies.

The UK needs to reduce its dependence on North Sea

The country may increase its dependence on the North Sea with six new licences soon, but the consumers may continue facing the brunt of high energy prices as the privatisation of UK supplies in the North Sea has linked the prices to the international rates. This could result in higher prices for British consumers when the gas is not getting imported from Russia. Its reduction of demand for gas can actually work for the UK in the long run while remaining on the renewable path.