Burning gas to produce electricity is ‘stupid,’ the CEO of power giant Enel says

The CEO of Italian power agency Enel has solid doubt on the continued profit of utilizing gas to produce electricity, telling CNBC it is “silly” and that cheaper and higher alternate options at the moment are accessible.

Speaking to CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick at the World Economic Forum, Francesco Starace mentioned the place Europe had sourced its gas from over the years, name-checking each Libya and Russia.

Russia was the greatest provider of petroleum oils and pure gas to the EU final 12 months, according to Eurostat. The bloc is now attempting to wean itself off Russian hydrocarbons following the nation’s invasion of Ukraine.  

“I feel this is an enormous get up name,” Starace stated, including that “an excessive amount of gas” was getting used “in a silly means, as a result of burning gas to produce electricity is, in the present day, silly.”

Instead, Starace stated there have been extra engaging alternate options.

“You can produce electricity higher, cheaper, with out utilizing gas … Gas is a valuable molecule and it is best to depart it for … purposes the place that is wanted,” he added.

These industrial makes use of embrace chemical purposes, the paper trade and use in the manufacturing of ceramics and glass, he stated.

“Spare gas for them,” Starace stated. “Stop utilizing gas for heating, cease utilizing gas for producing electricity when there are alternate options which might be higher.”

Alternative strategies of electricity era embrace wind and photo voltaic power, amongst others.

According to a recent report from Ember, a suppose tank centered on transferring the planet away from coal to what it calls “clear electricity,” fossil fuels have been answerable for 37% of EU electricity era in 2021.

Breaking down the above determine, Ember’s report — revealed in February — stated fossil gas power produced 18% of the EU’s electricity, a three-year low. Renewables have been answerable for 37%, whereas nuclear produced 26% of the bloc’s electricity final 12 months, Ember stated.

Across the Atlantic, preliminary figures from the U.S. Energy Administration present that pure gas was utilized in 38.3% of utility scale electricity era in the United States in 2021.

In Starace’s opinion, change is coming to Europe, the place the EU has stated it needs to be carbon impartial by 2050. “Overall I feel there shall be a discount of gas consumption in Europe throughout the board coming principally from these, like I stated, ‘silly’ makes use of,” he stated.  

“So burning it to generate electricity is not good anymore, there is a greater means,” he stated. “Burning it to warmth our houses is not clever, there is a greater means.”

The Enel Group — whose primary shareholder is the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance — has stated it is going to abandon gas era by 2040. It additionally plans to depart the retail gas market in 2040.

Starace was requested if the transfer to net-zero and deal with utilizing extra renewables in Europe can be turbocharged by the present disaster.

“I feel sure, undoubtedly,” he stated. “Because on high of the economics, on high of the local weather, there is now [a] safety of provide situation.”

“So you’ve got a mix of three elements, not two, so undoubtedly there is an acceleration there,” he added.

He stated it might take two or three years however, “you’ll begin to see a dent in gas consumption going ahead, no query.”