Hveiti at DI Energy Conference

This was clearly stated by DI Energy (the Danish Energy Industries Federation), which yesterday under the title: “EU Towards a Green Economy” held an international energy conference and its anniversary in Copenhagen.

The EU energy and climate policy framework was the subject of a panel discussion where Svend Brandstrup, CEO of Hveiti and chairman of DI Bioenergy, participated along with Hans van Steen, Head of Unit, Directorate-General for Energy in the EU Commission and Knud Pedersen, Vice President of Dong Energy and deputy chairman of DI Energy. 

Hans van Steen started the discussion by explaining the increasing concerns over the EU’s dependency on imported oil and gas, which continues to increase. 

Both Svend Brandstrup and Knud Pedersen emphasized the need for stable guidelines from the EU in order to create a safe investment environment. 

Svend Brandstrup stated that in order to raise capital for biorefining projects like Hveiti, the investors need to know the long-tern political strategy for climate and energy policy, as investment like these easily reach 10-20 years into the future. 

The investors need to know the political framework for 2030, and because of the political debates over biofuels in the EU at the moment, investments in this industry has stalled. Therefore, pressure was put in Hans van Steen to make him understand how much depends on clear guidelines from the EU, as well as the consequences seen at the moment because of disagreement in the EU. 

Also Danish Minister for Climate, Energy and Buildings, Martin Lidegaard, participated in the conference.

It is the ambition for several European countries that we want the 2030 goal formulated before the current EU Commission retires by the end of the year. We all see that the current situation is not durable. We need more clearness in regards to prices, we have to secure investors and corporations by letting them know which direction we are headed. And we cannot wait with this until 2015 or 2016, said the minister.