For a CO2-free Europe we will need natural gas
By 2030, the European Union is committed to increase energy production from renewable sources by 32%, a goal common to all member countries to significantly reduce CO2 emissions. But in a world – or at least a Europe – in which energy from renewable sources will be increasingly important, what role will natural gas play? Will it continue to be a key player in the energy sector?
According to the European Commission that is dealing with this delicate but necessary step, in the coming years we will not only continue to use this type of energy source, but we will see its consumption grow. By increasing the percentage of renewable sources in our energy mix, in fact, will prove necessary the availability of a fuel that is both reliable and environmentally friendly, two characteristics that only natural gas has.
Natural gas and renewable sources, a winning mix towards decarbonisation
If it is absolutely necessary to take a united front to achieve all the goals set for the next ten years, it is also necessary to be clear about what tools we now have at our disposal. Renewable energy sources, for example, have one major flaw: they are not 100% reliable, since they depend on external factors such as sunlight and wind.
It is not possible to imagine a future made of intermittent energy sources; we need a clean backup fuel that we can always count on. This is why the European Union has decided to focus a lot on natural gas, foreseeing in the next few years a significant strengthening of the distribution network and an opening on markets so far little exploited as the US one.
The objective – to ensure that all member states always have the amount of natural gas needed by their citizens – is to guarantee at least three different sources of supply. Important work is therefore planned on infrastructure, interconnections between the various networks and storage facilities.
An important step towards a safer and more reliable supply of natural gas will be the completion of the Southern Gas Corridor, the gas pipeline located in the southern Caucasus that will allow Europe to obtain this fuel also from countries such as Azerbaijan and, in theory, Turkmenistan, Israel, Iran, Iraq and Turkey. Not to mention the new routes that the import of natural gas from various African countries will open up. In short, in the near future we will increasingly need infrastructure capable of withstanding the enormous growth in demand expected.
The central role of QOC Solutions and its rapid closures
In order to implement all planned changes and improvements on time, you will need to rely on specialized companies. Italy will have a fundamental role in this sense, too, thanks to realities known and already appreciated internationally as QOC Solutions.
The company from the province of Novara is in fact one of the world players in the production of quick closures used in a wide variety of sectors including Oil & Gas. More than twenty years in this particular field allow us to offer products that are not only highly functional and resistant, but also fully customizable according to the needs found in the various plants. We provide our customers with every type of quick closure, including quick opening closures with tooth, ones with jaws or ones with sectors.
When dealing with substances such as natural gas, it is important to be able to guarantee the highest possible safety level and this is one of our main goals every time we start working on a new project. The specialized engineers who make up the QOC Solutions team tackle the issue on several fronts by offering advice and technical support to companies while at the same time engaging in the design of increasingly higher performance products.
In these past years, there have been many international projects to which QOC Solutions and its team have contributed and this allows us to be ready to play once again a leading role in the challenges faced by our sector.
To keep up to date with our projects, please visit the official QOC Solutions website.