10-Day Countdown to Unshackle EU Cleantech: #Powergrid and #LDES

Day 6:?The countdown continues! For those catching up, each day until the European Council on 9-10 February, I’ll be sharing one actionable?#idea ?a day that can help accelerate the?#energytransition ?and make Europe a global leader in?#cleantech ?#innovation ?and?#deployment .?

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Power Grid and Storage: The (Often Forgotten) Twin Engines of the Energy Transition

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It’s déjà vu for me – unfortunately. Back in the day, I used to get exasperated that policymakers had the boldest, most ambitious, world-leading digital strategies – but were skimping and slow to roll out 5G. How was the data going to flow across Europe without the necessary speeds and networks?

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Fast forward and the EU is spearheading the world’s boldest #renewablestrategies , most ambitious #netzero goals, #electrification is the name of the game. But how is any of this supposed to work in the absence of a top-notch, modern #powergrid ?

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According to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) 2022 report on world energy investment , global growth of investment in renewables needs to be three times faster to be on track for net-zero by 2050. But compared to electric grids, that’s a slow walk. Grid investments need to double that pace. They need to grow six times faster than current rates. For advanced economies, that translates to a $140 billion annual investment gap that needs to be filled through 2030.

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Since an interconnected power grid – which must (and will) include #ukraine – is now no longer a ‘nice to have’ but a matter of existential importance as we’re completely rebuilding our energy system, the #eu – and especially the European Investment Bank (EIB) – must play a leading role here. Let me zero in on two areas which deserve particular attention: ?

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1)?????We need a step change in the investment in #powergrids

Bill Gates , founder of Breakthrough Energy , recently wrote a blog post spotlighting why boosting investment in the systems that transmit our electricity is so important. While his post focused on the US, we share similar challenges right here in Europe.

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“Since the beginning of the electric grid, power companies have placed most power plants close to cities,” Bill writes. “Railroads and pipelines were used to ship fossil fuels from wherever they were extracted to the power plants where they’d be burned to make electricity. That model doesn’t work with solar and wind, because many of the best places to generate lots of electricity are far away from urban centers.”

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The US is trying to get ahead of this. For example, in a state where I used to live, New Mexico, a $2 billion public-private joint venture was just announced to build a 400-mile clean energy transmission line. This project will be able to deliver enough renewable electricity to power 2 million homes and could create up to 3,500 jobs. This is the kind of project we need to see more of on this side of the Atlantic as well – especially when it comes to connecting offshore wind farms in places like the North Sea , or ensuring EU interconnection targets of at least 15% by 2030 are met.

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Unlike many other issues where responsibility between public and private can be blurred, here it is crystal clear: this is infrastructure – and the quintessential 'central nervous system' of the energy transition – and therefore squarely lies in the domain of public authorities. “…[I]nvestment levels will not accelerate unless policy makers improve investment frameworks, facilitate access to funds and shorten assessment and permit-granting processes,” the IEA says in its investment report .

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But as Bill’s blog post notes, innovation can help, too: “For example, grid-enhancing technologies like?dynamic line ratings ,?power flow controls , and?topology optimization ?could increase the capacity of the existing system,” Bill writes.?“Breakthrough Energy Ventures , which is part of the climate initiative I helped start, has invested in new technologies like advanced conductors (TS Conductors ) and superconductors (VEIR ) – wires that use cutting-edge materials to get more energy out of smaller lines. But these technologies aren’t a substitute for real systemic improvements and building lines in places where they don’t already exist.”

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2)?????Long-Duration Energy Storage (#LDES ) targets must be tied to renewable targets

When we talk about LDES, what we’re really talking about is #flexibility - and strategies rooted in #reality . When you see renewable targets of 80, 90 or even 100% without any mention of storage, these plans need an urgent #realitycheck . Because of their very nature, #wind and #solar are variable, intermittent sources of energy. The wind doesn’t always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine – but we always need power. Grid operators’ responsibly is to safely and securely deliver uninterrupted power. That means as more renewables come online, we need more, better and cheaper ways to store the power that’s generated during particularly sunny or windy spells. It’s really the only way we can break our fossil fuel addiction and reduce the participation of gas power generation plants in the EU power mix to zero. In addition to li-ion batteries to back-up the renewable generation for shorter periods of time (typically less than 8 hours), LDES technologies can ensure power sector decarbonization by storing electricity for longer timeframes – from hours, to days and weeks. But all these LDES technologies need urgent policy prioritization and support. If you compare the efforts that have gone into renewables versus storage, you'll know what I'm talking about.

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“Policies and regulatory frameworks need to evolve in order to bring about the levels of investment in new sources of flexibility…” the IEA’s 2022 World Energy Outlook notes. “Legacy regulations that could potentially diminish the economic case for various types of flexibility should be reviewed and reformed as necessary.”

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Last summer, Breakthrough Energy funded a report by Aurora Energy Research analyzing prospects for LDES in Germany. Some of the report’s key findings were striking, and they highlight the golden #opportunity LDES represents … not just in Germany but indeed across Europe:

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·??????The use of LDES reduces cumulated total system costs in Germany by around EUR 24 bn between 2025 and 2050.

·??????In the charging process, LDES systems absorb #electricity from renewable sources, contributing to a reduction of #renewables curtailment of up to 30%.

·??????When discharged, LDES systems replace conventional #gas and future hydrogen-fueled power generation, contributing to a reduction in CO2 #emissions and a 13% decrease in hydrogen demand from the power sector.

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And that’s not all, LDES technologies can also assist with the provision of additional requirements that are necessary to guarantee a #clean #security of supply:

·??????Thermal LDES technologies can supply direct #heat reaching temperatures up to 1,500C - hence becoming a real solution for #industrial processes decarbonization, such as cement or steel manufacturing. Martin Hojsik

·??????LDES can also ensure grid #inertia that is required for providing system stability, giving grid operators who suffer power system disruptions sufficient time to make emergency recovery adjustments.

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Another resource for EU policymakers seeking to understand the challenges we face with LDES – and the opportunities if the EU leads from the front – is the LDES Council , a global, CEO-led organization with 60 members, including Breakthrough Energy as well as some of the largest publicly traded corporations in Europe .

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I’m fully aware that the power grid and LDES are not the most thrilling or attractive topics that policymakers will ever come across – which may explain (but not excuse) their slow reaction. But reality will set in – it always does. Having ambitious strategies in the absence of a modern, supportive infrastructure is like defying gravity. It won’t work. It can’t work. And I think that is finally (!) starting to settle in. And not a moment too soon.

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That’s a wrap for Day 6 of?#unshackle ?#eu ?#cleantech

#greendealindustrialplan ?#netzeroindustryact