The Elia report today confirms what the MR has always maintained: the nuclear-renewables mix is not only essential to guarantee supply security, but also to keep energy prices affordable and achieve carbon neutrality.
The MR welcomes the publication of the Blue print report, which objectifies essential points for the future of Belgium's energy policy. It takes away the main message: doing nothing is the most expensive scenario. It is essential to define our country's energy vision for 2050 as quickly as possible and to clearly decide on the investment path needed to achieve it.
“The MR has long argued for a mix of nuclear and renewable electricity generation, as well as for the growing use of carbon-neutral molecules and the optimisation of the energy system. That is exactly what we defended during last June's election campaign,” explains federal MP Mathieu Bihet.
“And today we have confirmation that the nuclear-renewables mix is the most virtuous way to guarantee our supply security, keep energy prices affordable and achieve carbon neutrality. We are delighted that Elia's study confirms that extending existing nuclear power will have a downward impact on prices for consumers. Likewise, scenarios including new nuclear capacity have a downward impact on consumer prices, as well as improving supply security. And this even under assumptions of expensive nuclear power. For the MR, which has consistently called for an intensification of offshore installations and nuclear power, this is an unprecedented confirmation that calls for action as soon as possible.”.
The importance of energy independence
The MR is also concerned about the extreme dependence of our future electricity system. Currently, Belgium can meet its electricity demand in both consumption (TWh) and capacity (GW) terms, but if policy remains unchanged, this will no longer be the case in future. Indeed, Belgium will face electricity consumption peaks of up to 27 GW (depending on the scenario), with only 8 to 10 GW of local capacity to meet this (including batteries). This means the model relies on 10 GW of “non-consumption” by households and industry during periods of strain, to which must be added a further 6 to 10 GW of electricity imports from other European countries. Likewise, annual electricity imports to meet Belgian needs, even without any increase in consumption, will amount to 70 to 90 TWh, nearly half of our annual consumption.
The MR also wants to continue work on the role of molecules and heat in the energy mix of the future. Indeed, the electrification assumptions used by Elia are extremely ambitious, and certain 2050 consumption levels (international aviation or shipping, or assumptions of reindustrialisation) are not factored into final energy consumption for 2050. Similarly, the role of CO2 capture for industry has not yet been modelled. It will be useful to continue working with a player such as Fluxys to study what role molecules could play in decarbonisation, system flexibility and, of course, prices for consumers.