From left to right: Carl Richers - Vice President, INNIO; Enzo Losito Bellavigna - CEO, AB Energy; Hans van Steen - Principal Advisor, European Commission (DG Energy); Hans Holmström - Managing Director, Siemens Energy; Vladimír Hlavinka - CEO, TEDOM; Marco Golinelli - President, ITALCOGEN; Yavuz Aydin - Chairman, Kojen Turk; Julio Artiñano - President, COGEN Spain; Javier Rodríguez Morales - Director General, ACOGEN. (Photo: COGEN Europe 2022)

COGEN Europe, the European Association for the Promotion of Cogeneration, has presented the European Commission with an open letter calling for cogeneration to be prioritised in the face of the current energy crisis.

The letter was signed by 46 CEOs and leaders representing the entire energy value chain at COGEN Europe’s annual conference in Leuven, Belgium.

The open letter demonstrates the solidarity of the cogeneration sector in tackling the climate and energy crises facing Europe and emphasises the need to rapidly deploy all clean energy technologies to achieve European Green Deal and REPowerEU objectives.

The letter states that “Cogeneration is a future proof, flexible and renewables-ready efficiency solution, which can be deployed now in order to ensure the cost-effective transition to an increasingly electrified, renewable and resilient energy system…”

Marco Pezzaglia, Gruppo Professionale Energia’s CEO and chair of COGEN Europe, said in a statement: “Energy efficiency must be prioritised now and in the long-term, while ensuring citizens, businesses and industry have access to reliable, affordable and clean energy.

“With this open letter, CEOs and industry associations are showing their commitment to delivering on REPowerEU and the EU Green Deal and calling on EU leaders to increase ambition on energy efficiency as part of integrated energy systems at local level,” added Pezzaglia.

To deliver on REPowerEU and the EU Green Deal, industry CEOs and leaders are using the letter to call on policymakers to take concrete action to:

• Apply the ‘energy efficiency first’ principle
• Enable resilient and locally integrated energy systems
• Foster competitive, secure and clean energy for industry

Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, Cristian Bu?oi, said during an address at COGEN Europe’s Conference: “Now more than ever it is important to stop wasting energy, reduce our demand but also produce energy in the most efficient way possible,” he stated. “This is why I salute the call launched today by COGEN Europe for prioritizing efficient power and heat production.”

According to COGEN Europe, cogeneration currently provides 12% of the electricity and 16% of the heat used in European homes, industry and district heating.

It delivers energy savings of around 30 bcm per year, of which 15bcm are directly linked to natural gas savings.

In the long-term, cogeneration solutions can continue to deliver important energy savings, while also increasingly contributing towards energy system resiliency.