Europe’s energy technology research and innovation plan revised

The European Commission has recommended revisions to the Strategic Energy Technology (SET) plan to enable it to make a greater contribution to the European Green Deal, REPowerEU and Green Deal Industrial Plan goals.

In particular, there needs to be revisions to the objectives and the governance and working group structures and countries need to increase their efforts to spend 3% of their GDP on R&I and to foster the scale-up of innovations, the EC states in its Communication on the revised SET plan.

The SET plan was introduced in 2007 to guide the region’s energy research and innovation agenda towards a low-carbon future and ensure a unified approach towards achieving the decarbonisation goals.

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The plan is focussed on six priority areas with 10 key actions, namely:

• Becoming number 1 in renewables – integrating renewable technologies in the energy systems and reducing costs of technologies;
• Delivering a smart, consumer-centric energy system – new technologies and services for consumers and resilience and security of energy systems;
• Developing and strengthening energy efficient systems – new materials and technologies for buildings and energy efficiency for industry;
• Diversify and strengthen energy options for sustainable transport – competitiveness in the global battery sector and e-mobility and renewable fuels and bioenergy;
• Driving ambition in carbon capture, storage and use;
• Maintaining and strengthening nuclear safety.

These actions are implemented by 14 working groups, each focusing on one key technology, while the overall governance is with the SET Plan Steering Group comprised of high-level representatives from the EU and associated countries.

Revisions to the SET plan include expanding the current technology scope to encompass all strategic renewable energy technologies, in particular onshore wind energy and low and medium-temperature geothermal technologies, and setting up a new working group on hydrogen to implement the ‘ERA pilot on Green Hydrogen’.

More prominence on heat pumps and a broadened scope on energy efficiency in industry are among other revisions, as is a focus on strengthening the European EV battery manufacturing chain.

New priorities on ‘cross cutting’ issues also are introduced, including digitalisation, circularity, market access, societal needs and skills development, for which new task forces will be created.

Alongside the revised plan, the Commission in its Communication also proposes inter alia that the legitimacy of the Steering Group should be upgraded to the status of expert group, possibly as a subgroup under the European Research Area and extending its mandate to providing strategic directions for the development and implementation of the SET Plan.

The Commission also calls on all the involved countries to strengthen their participation and to increase their efforts in supporting research and innovation in, and the development and deployment of, innovative clean energy solutions, and to further contribute to the financing and implementation of the SET Plan initiatives through a joint programming approach.