Energy is a critical driver of the global economy and recent volatility in fossil fuel prices coupled with reliance on politically unstable countries for energy supply has created a level of risk that many developed countries would like to mitigate. This risk is compounded by trends of increasing dependence on foreign imports of fossil fuels by many developed economies.
For example, under a business as usual scenario, the EU’s energy import dependence will jump from 50% of total EU energy consumption today to 65% in 2030. Specifically, reliance on imports of natural gas is expected to increase from 57% today to 84% by 2030, and reliance is expected to increase from 82% to 93%. The European Commission has commented, in relation to these findings that ‘This carries political and economic risks. The pressure on global energy resources is intense.’
The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects global demand for oil to grow by 41% by 2030. How supply will keep up with demand is unknown. The US has become increasingly dependent on fossil fuel imports since 1970, when domestic oil reached a peak, and currently obtains about 60% of its oil from foreign suppliers. It is no surprise, therefore, that as part of national security and economic planning, a number of countries are increasing their investment in secure supplies of electricity generated renewable sources of energy.
