Effects of Renewable Energy on European Union’s Energy Import

Abstract

Energy is used in all fields of the modern world and its usage has vital importance in all of our lives. Even a short interruption in energy supply will cause serious consequences in the supply chain since almost all sectors are energy-dependent. Therefore, all countries have started to take measures to ensure energy security and uninterrupted energy supply. The European Union countries have also taken various measures for this purpose and they continue to do so. One of these measures is that the European Union is trying to reduce energy dependency by reducing energy imports. This is possible by the EU investing in renewable energy and increasing the share of renewable energy in total energy produced. Therefore, In order to decrease the energy imports, the EU countries have started to increase their renewable energy production. The main goal of this study is to see if there is a relationship between renewable energy production of the European Union and the energy import of the European Union and if so, to find the degree of this relationship. In the first part, I gave information about what renewable energy is and the detailed definitions of main renewable energy resources. In the second part, I tried to show the current situation in the European Union regarding renewable energy. I gave information about the main renewable energy sources and energy shares of the European Union and the most and least common renewable energy resources in the EU. In the third part, I gave information about the energy dependency, energy import, and energy security of the EU. I supported all information with the previous years’ statistical data and graphs. Finally, in the last part, I did correlation and regression analysis to find out whether there is a relationship between the energy import of the EU and the renewable energy production of the EU. Although some previous studies and common belief are claiming that increasing renewable energy production will decrease energy imports, according to the results and conclusions of my study, the increase of renewable energy production of the European Union has a positive effect on the increase of energy imports of the European Union. The detailed results are presented in the conclusion part of my study.

Energy is used in all fields of the modern world and its usage has vital importance in all of our lives. Even a short interruption in energy supply will cause serious consequences in the supply chain since almost all sectors are energy-dependent. Therefore, all countries have started to take measures to ensure energy security and uninterrupted energy supply. The European Union countries have also taken various measures for this purpose and they continue to do so. One of these measures is that the European Union is trying to reduce energy dependency by reducing energy imports. This is possible by the EU investing in renewable energy and increasing the share of renewable energy in total energy produced. Therefore, In order to decrease the energy imports, the EU countries have started to increase their renewable energy production. The main goal of this study is to see if there is a relationship between renewable energy production of the European Union and the energy import of the European Union and if so, to find the degree of this relationship. In the first part, I gave information about what renewable energy is and the detailed definitions of main renewable energy resources. In the second part, I tried to show the current situation in the European Union regarding renewable energy. I gave information about the main renewable energy sources and energy shares of the European Union and the most and least common renewable energy resources in the EU. In the third part, I gave information about the energy dependency, energy import, and energy security of the EU. I supported all information with the previous years’ statistical data and graphs. Finally, in the last part, I did correlation and regression analysis to find out whether there is a relationship between the energy import of the EU and the renewable energy production of the EU. Although some previous studies and common belief are claiming that increasing renewable energy production will decrease energy imports, according to the results and conclusions of my study, the increase of renewable energy production of the European Union has a positive effect on the increase of energy imports of the European Union. The detailed results are presented in the conclusion part of my study.