Deal reached for new non-Russian power source for Europe

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Deal reached for new non-Russian power source for Europe

By JUSTIN SPIKE and VADIM GHIRDA
December 17, 2022

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — The leaders of Hungary, Romania, Georgia and Azerbaijan finalized an agreement Saturday on an undersea electricity connector that could become a new power source for the European Union amid a crunch on energy supplies caused by the war in Ukraine.

The agreement involves a cable running beneath the Black Sea that would link Azerbaijan to Hungary via Georgia and Romania.

The deal comes as Hungary, which has lobbied heavily against EU sanctions on Russia for its war in Ukraine, is seeking additional sources for fossil fuels to reduce its heavy dependence on Russian oil and gas.

Azerbaijan plans to export electricity from offshore wind farms to Europe via Georgia, a cable beneath the Black Sea, and then to Romania and Hungary.

-snip-

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-europe-business-hungary-european-union-7f1d0b67596722fab7d6b0c0a3a3d40e

[hunter]

1. Most of the electricity flowing through these lines will be generated by fossil fuels.

Not utilizing the lines when the wind isn't blowing would be unprofitable.

A few years ago there were all sorts of proposals to build more east-west power lines into California for "wind power." The true motivation was to sell us more dirty coal power.

California itself doesn't have any coal fired power plants but we do import coal generated electricity.

Many of the electric power stations in Azerbaijan burn Mazut, a very low quality fuel oil not much better than coal from an emissions standpoint.

[GregariousGroundhog]

2. Indeed

Only 9% of the electricity Azerbaijan generated in 2019 was renewable. That said, they have a stated objective of increasing that to 30% by 2030 and also appear to be trying to diversify their economy in general beyond hydrocarbon extraction. This may be one step toward those goals.