With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a new and dark topic has been rudely thrust into infrastructure conversations: energy infrastructure as a tool or target of war, and fossil fuels as instruments of blackmail, and the subsequent perceived necessity for national or regional energy self-reliance.
Most of an entire continent, that being Europe, is implementing permanent and wholesale changes in its energy infrastructure, as European Union leaders and members migrate to cleaner and self-sufficient energy infrastructure — and perhaps bar imported oil and gas from Russia or other regions.
In May 2022, the European Union announced the REPowerEU Plan, stating there is a “double urgency to transform Europe’s energy system, ending the EU’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels, which are used as an economic and political weapon and cost European taxpayers nearly €100 billion per year, and tackling the climate crisis.”
As if to underline the vulnerability of e