Renewable energy production is steadily increasing. Despite this, it is still a long way from being able to fully cover the needs of today’s highly energy-intensive societies.
At COP28, the 28th UN climate change conference in December 2023, the European Union announced as one of its goals to triple its renewable energy production by 2030. In order to achieve this, it will not only have to focus on the creation of new photovoltaic parks, wind farms and so on, but will also have to work on the expansion of energy infrastructure, which is crucial for transporting energy to population centres and industrial complexes.
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Renewable energy: the growth of production
The interest of nations in renewable energy is motivated by the need to curb climate change and lead to the adoption of increasingly sustainable lifestyles that will protect the planet and future generations.
In order to reach the goal of tripling the production of renewable energy, EU countries will have to, on the one hand, incentivise private individuals and entrepreneurs to install devices for self-producing energy in the spaces they own and, on the other hand, push the creation of wind and photovoltaic parks to satisfy the remaining energy needs and allow everyone to benefit from clean energy.
Alongside these two decisive actions, there is a third one, that of financing research and development of increasingly high-performance and sustainable solutions.
Renewable Energy Transport: the Role of Companies
In this context, a fundamental role is played not only by companies involved in the design and development of devices capable of producing sustainable energy, such as wind turbines and photovoltaic panels, but also by those that produce cables and devices for creating reliable transport networks.
Let us take as an example a classic offshore wind farm, located in the sea, far from the coast. In order to be able to successfully bring renewable energy to population centres, it is essential to rely on smart, integrated energy infrastructures to transport the power to the primary distribution network. A key role is played, in this case, by the type of cables used, which, like those produced by Prysmian, must be powerful and suitable for deep-sea positioning.
Of course, this also applies to onshore wind farms, photovoltaic parks and, in general, to all renewable energy production sites. Energy infrastructures must be able to support the ever-increasing demand for clean energy in every context, allowing everyone to use it, even when the production sites are many kilometres away.
In order to achieve the desired results, there will be a need for huge investments in the electricity infrastructure sector aimed at increasing the capacity of existing grids, modernising old ones and making them more punctual and reliable, and, of course, building new infrastructure to connect the emerging wind and photovoltaic parks to distribution centres.
The Main Resources for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Production
But what are the resources on which the European Union and other global players interested in increasing green energy production will focus most?
Among the main ones are photovoltaic solar panels, the spread of which may also be favoured by the sharp drop in prices over the past year. Slower instead, at least for the moment, is the spread of wind power. This is severely slowed down by several factors, including decidedly higher costs and red tape.
A great deal of attention is also being paid to electrolysis and, in particular, to projects aimed at developing efficient and high-performance technologies for the production of green hydrogen, as well as to the biofuels sector, i.e., fuels derived from the processing of organic animal and vegetable matter. The latter promise to play a major role in sectors where the replacement of fossil fuels is more complex, such as aviation.
Oil Companies’ Commitment to a Zero-emission World
The rapid advancement of renewable energy sources and the willingness of states to reduce CO2 emissions to combat climate change is also leading oil and gas industry leaders to find increasingly sustainable solutions on several fronts, starting with finding solutions to keep carbon emissions under control and ending with the use of digitization to manage drilling rigs, pipelines and so on.
Conclusions
In a world that is increasingly environmentally aware and interested in sustainable development, the use of green solutions for energy production becomes a key element in achieving the goals set.
Photovoltaic panels, wind turbines, electrolyzers and biomass: there are many devices and tools today that offer the opportunity to reduce the use of fossil fuels. But for them to be able to cover the entire energy needs of mankind as a whole, they must be accompanied by powerful, high-performance energy infrastructures, capable of connecting energy-producing devices to primary distribution points, as well as these to population centres and industrial hubs.
To achieve the desired results, it will require the cooperation and commitment of everyone – politicians, companies and citizens.
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