I have been concerned about the energy policy of European Union (including UK, to hell with Brexit!) for a while. However, with the current Russian invasion, I think barbarians are at the gate, proverbially. My main problem have always been that Europe is a net importer of hydrocarbon by choice, not due to lack of resources. If a country (or a group of countries, in this case) doesn't have a natural resource, it must import it if that is required for domestic consumption. However, if they do have it, and decide not to use it either for a political or environmental policy (as the case for EU), it becomes and entirely different problem.
That infographic above shows the dependency of EU to Russian energy exports. Mind you, Russia doesn't have any other meaningful exports that pays in international currency (read USD). So you are looking at the main cash cow for Russia above. Now the world have made unprecedented amount of economic sanction on Russia to throlle Putin's war machine. However, exports to EU continues. This is simply because, Russians energy export to EU can't be mitigated overnight without major disruptions. So Russians need the money to fund their war machine, and EU need the energy to sustain their countries. So right now it is a symbiotic relationship, but we all know this is a reciepe for disaster.
EU need the energy. Trouble is nothing can be done overnight, even if there is a shift in the energy policy. Most of the northern Europe doesn't get enough Sun to generate sustainable Solar Power all year. There were proposals to build large scale solar farms in Morocco and Algeria, but that requires multi-billion dollars investments not only to construct the solar farms but also to construct at least 3-4 power transmission lines across the Mediterranean, similar to North Sea Link. Even if projects of this magnitude is sanctioned, it will likely take 3-5 years or more to complete. The need, however, is immediate.
Nuclear power is a carbon free option, and from my point of view, probably the most suitable option for Europe, but outside of France, it is rather non-existent! Thanks to Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi disasters, policy makers do not like Nuclear power plants. To that I say, it is easy to choose between right or wrong, but world is much more complex, and often we must choose between the lesser of the two wrongs and assume the risk. Because the alternative is far worse.
