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A long awaited communication of the European Commission on the financing of the EU Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan) came out  on  October 7^th indicating a need to increase  EU annual private and public investment from €3 to €8 billion. The SET Plan is regarded  the technology pillar of the EU’s energy and climate policy. The financing plan, which was originally due out last year, was partly delayed due to the financial crisis, which required new thinking on how to reactivate growth, Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said. Furthermore, drawing up roadmaps for the various technologies took time, he added. The Commission, together with industry and the research community, has drawn up technology ‘roadmaps’ for 2010-2020 which identify key low carbon technologies with strong potential at EU level in six areas: wind, solar, electricity grids, bioenergy, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and sustainable nuclear fission. The additional costs would cover basic and applied research, demonstration and early market take up, excluding deployment activities. Besides, the “Smart Cities Initiative” a new initiative on energy efficiency for up to 30 cities has been proposed as first enabler for the mass market take–up of energy efficiency, renewables and energy network technologies.

” Up-grading investment in research in clean technologies is urgent if Europe is to make the road to Copenhagen and beyond cheaper. With today’s estimates, the Commission wants to make the SET Plan a springboard to leap into a low carbon economy, which is only possible if public and private actors pool resources in a coherent way. Increasing smart investments in research today is an opportunity to develop new sources of growth, to green our economy and to ensure the EU’s competitiveness when we come out of the crisis. ” EU Commissioner for Science and Research, Janez Potočnik, said.

Regarding in particular hydrogen and fuel cells, the Communication states that: “The Joint Technology Initiative (JTI) on fuel cells and hydrogen was established for 2008-2013 with a budget of 470 M€ of Community funding to be at least matched by industry. The JTI has the minimum critical mass needed to develop and validate efficient and cost-competitive technologies for the various applications”.

The Communication has also pointed the crucial issues facing the commercialization of fuel cell cars: “Meeting the market entry targets set by industry will require substantial additional effort. In particular, more and larger scale demonstrations and pre-commercial deployment activities for portable, stationary, transport applications will be required, as will long-term research and technology development to build up a competitive fuel cell chain and a sustainable hydrogen infrastructure across the EU. The additional public and private funding needed is currently estimated as €5 bn for the period 2013-2020”.