Synergies Between Space and Energy: Space as a Tool to Support European Energy Goals

The space and energy sector have similar sustainable ambitions and face similar technological difficulties, providing numerous occasions for learning, collaborating and creating economic and societal value. Adopting space technology and applications within the energy sector offers many high-potential opportunities worth exploring. Space can serve as an enabler for revolutionizing the energy sector by providing information on renewable energy sources and energy efficiency to facilitate the energy transition and support decision and policy-makers in developing, implementing, and monitoring various energy policy areas such as energy resource management and energy transport. Political interest in this topic is rising, and multiple high-level discussions took place in Europe in 2018 to gain a deeper understanding of the opportunities and enablers for space as a tool to support European energy policy. This article draws on the insights from two dedicated events to highlight the most prominent opportunities and enablers. The outcomes of these events provide a source of inspiration for policy development, investment decisions, and R&D proposals to further stimulate space as an enabler for sustainable economic growth in the energy sector.