EPEE welcomes Europe’s energy integration plans

BELGIUM: EPEE has welcomed the European Commission’s Energy System Integration Strategy, recognising the need to create an overall framework which maximises the cost-effective uptake of renewables in the energy system.

The move away from fossil fuels is seen as crucial to reduce the energy consumption for heating and cooling and to further increase the share of renewables. 

EPEE maintains that the strategy needs to address how to integrate the design of energy supply systems (supply side) with the design of energy using systems (demand side). It argues that buildings are a key element of the energy infrastructure, and heating and cooling need to be at the core of long-term energy system planning.

“To decarbonise heating and cooling we need an integrated approach, where heating and cooling are considered as two sides of the same coin,” commented EPEE director general Andrea Voigt. “Heat pumps, for example, offer an excellent opportunity by providing energy efficient heating and cooling with renewable energy. Waste heat recovery is another way of using energy more efficiently. Demand side management and thermal storage solutions can provide further flexibility to the grid to support the transition to renewable energies.”