The energy trilemma: What is it and how does it influence EU energy policy

This could mean conducting an impact assessment of the trilemma when creating energy policy.

In the EU, we have managed to diversify significantly from Russian energy supply. But if we want to truly diversify, we still have a long way to go. Sanctions at an EU level were key to this diversification, which in turn lead to sizeable growth for other suppliers of liquified natural gas (LNG). Although this means the EU is now sourcing energy from a variety of other supplying nations, there is still quite a high dependency on only a few countries, such as Norway and the US. The first takeaway is that we still need to focus on the right way to diversify the energy supply.

Secondly, it raises questions about how to best balance short- and long-term goals. For example, Germany prolonged their use of fossil fuels to secure energy during the crisis, which met the short-term need but compromising on the long-term goal of using sustainable energy supplies.

Balancing the trilemma in the long-term is key for a future energy system where diversification, supply, demand, and balance are the key words.

This refers to balancing supply, and also the balance between supply and demand where more flexibility on the demand side can balance out the more volatile supply side. An example of this could be found within ancillary services where companies create business cases based on supplying flexible demand to the transmission system operator (TSO) and distribution system operator (DSO). This could be a small operation or a larger one such as a data centre. Essentially, the processing is moved to where the energy is most available.

Last year, we issued a report on the energy trilemma, where we examined how to increase the security of electricity supply, and made 17 policy recommendations at a national, Nordic, EU, and international level. Focusing on elements like diversification, strategic energy planning, demand flexibility, and the impact of energy policies in the trilemma, which received positive feedback from policymakers. These recommendations are still relevant.

It is not only industries that can make a difference. I attended the UN COP28 climate change conference in 2023 and witnessed many discussions about tripling the use of renewable energy, making long-term global targets, and tracking short- and mid- term progress. There was a lot of focus on how energy efficiency needs to be doubled. This is something we can each take ownership for and actively strive to make our own energy savings for the sake of the planet and our own pockets.