What Are Europe’s Energy Alternatives?

With Nord Stream 2 canceled and relations with Russia on Cold War-level, where can Europe get energy?

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“Captive to Russia.” That is what Donald Trump called Germany at a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in 2018. The building of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and its ongoing energy deals with Moscow would make Germany too dependent on the autocratic state. Trump’s observation was not exactly original—the Obama administration had made similar warnings, and it was a standard criticism from the Baltic states that had once been part of the Soviet Union. 

The calls to cancel Nord Stream 2 had fallen on deaf ears in Germany. In an interview as recently as early February, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz would not tell CNN’s Jake Tapper that Germany would cancel the pipeline if there were a Russian invasion. A lot has happened since. Germany not only canceled the project; it is breaking with its longstanding policy of not delivering arms to war zones by sending weapons to Ukraine, ramping up military spending to meet NATO targets, and looking for alternatives to Russian gas.

With Europe so heavily reliant on Russian natural gas, what are its alternatives? Western Europe, including France and the BENELUX states (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg) has a comparably low dependence on Russian gas, guaranteeing their supply from Norway and through LNG (liquified natural gas) terminals on the Dutch and Belgian coasts, as well as Spain, which holds a quarter of Europe’s LNG capacity. In 2021, LNG terminals ran at 45 percent of capacity and are now expected to see much-increased use as the crisis in Ukraine continues. France’s plan to build 14 new-generation nuclear plants over the next 15 years, and its widespread use of household electric heating also contribute to energy independence that far exceeds that of Germany.

Fears of exploding gas prices have been fueled by Russia itself. Dmitry Medvedev, former Russian prime minister and current deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council tweeted: “German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has issued an order to halt the process of certifying the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Well. Welcome to the brave new world where Europeans are very soon going to pay €2.000 for 1.000 cubic meters of natural gas!” 

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  1. Mathew A

    Doesn't Europe also have a lot of untapped fracking resources?

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    Matt J

    They'd better figure out before the end of the year, or Russia's famed General Winter might launch an invasion for the first time.

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  3. T.Moser

    Is there a reason America can’t increase production and supply to Europe?

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      Charlie Hall

      Yes. Progressive and NIMBY opposition to building new energy export infrastructure. And the Republicans would rather grandstand than provide votes to override the Progressives and NIMBYs.

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      1. Matt

        While I'm generally pretty anti-NIMBY myself - I am sympathetic to not wanting to live near something like a refinery. Between well-documented health effects of living in the vicinity of even a correctly-operating refinery, and the fact that just in the last ~20 years we've seen oil refineries be not-correctly-operating on a literally explosive level in Texas, Philly, Louisville, and Wisconsin... Yeah, I wouldn't want to live anywhere near one either.

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    2. R. Wallis

      To be brief, the infrasture assets aren't in place to have America step up in a timely fashion. Crude oil is not like tap water, refining capabilities are generally needed to somewhat match the source of where the crude oil is coming from. Natural Gas transportation mainly occurs over pipelines. LNG transportation can take place over ships, but requires specialized equipment at ports both inside the US and in Europe to help with offloading.

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      1. Brendan Bossard

        True, but that makes starting NOW to put the infrastructure in place all the more important. We can replace both Russia and China in this regard. I agree that it will take time.

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        1. Avatar photo
          DougCLE

          "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now."
          - Chinese proverb

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    3. Brendan Bossard

      I was just thinking the same thing. Coal could be useful too. Also, increase use of nuclear power here among other things.

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        Charlie Hall

        Germany shot itself in the foot by getting rid of nuclear power plants. France is still sane, at least now.

        Coal is a bad idea.

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        1. Brendan Bossard

          Why is coal a bad idea?

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          1. Matt

            A whole bunch of reasons. Even if you believe global warming is a total hoax, coal plants put out a lot of other stuff we really don't want in our air. Between ozone, the various unpleasant particulate matter, and the fun fact that coal plants actually release roughly 100x as much nuclear material into their surrounding environments as nuclear plants do, there's a whole mountain of studies showing that living near a coal plant increases the rates of asthma, lung cancer, premature birth, and other similar unpleasant things.

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