Powering Up Europe: My thoughts on delivering efficient and resilient grids more effectively

How often do you think about the complex network that powers our modern world? With the flick of a switch, we light our homes, cook meals for our families and even power our cars.? And as we tackle the dual issues of energy resilience and fighting climate change, the demand on this network will only grow. The good news, we’re building new infrastructure to meet these challenges. One of these is the SuedLink electricity highway in Germany, which will transmit electricity from the windy north to the energy-hungry south. But there’s a snag – construction should have started years ago, but it was held up by planning and permitting delays.

The European Green Deal mandates very ambitious 2030 milestone targets and sets the stage for a clean, sustainable, and resilient future, with the objective to achieve a climate-neutral Europe by 2050. While the vision is clear, it is crucial we now shift our focus to delivering on these objectives.?

Europe wants 150 GW of offshore wind by 2030 from 32GW today, meaning the need for integrated and efficient electricity grids has never been more urgent. More than ever, delivery requires political commitment for simplification, reliable long-term planning, and innovative solutions.

Here are my thoughts on how to deliver efficient and resilient grids more effectively:

Simplification for speed and delivery: With grid investments accelerating and customers competing for manufacturing slots, it is crucial to streamline processes to ensure European value chains can deliver. Reducing design variations of grid solutions such as onshore stations or offshore platforms and harmonizing grid codes can boost efficiency. Example: Let’s agree to minimise special requests beyond technical requirements and ensure compliance with European grid codes equates to compliance with national grid codes and not vice versa.

Compact designs for sustainability and resilience: Let’s encourage more compact platform designs to drive sustainability and the resilience of European grid value chains. Compact designs could use up to 40% less steel and boost European manufacturing capacities as it facilitates shipyard certification and frees up manufacturing slots.

Reliable long-term planning: A 10-year network development plan is a short time horizon for predictable supply chain investments, considering current project lead times between 4-8 years. Instead, TSOs and Entso-e should devise long-term network development plans targeting a 2045 grid. Making these plans mandatory and ensuring their implementation through government commissioning and TSO tendering will ramp up supply chains. This will mean Europe can deliver this critical infrastructure.

Financing to keep risks manageable: The scale of these projects, both offshore wind and grids, implies more technical guarantees on balance sheets, posing unsustainable risks for banks. To counter this, national promotional banks and the European Investment Bank (EIB) should issue counter-guarantees for energy transition projects. We can no longer do things the way we have in the past.

The European Green Deal, and other global initiatives, have set the stage for a cleaner and more resilient and sustainable future, but it is crucial to focus on effective delivery. By streamlining projects and technology, speeding up processes, encouraging innovation, and fostering cooperation, we can make it work. We have no time to wait to make these changes. Let’s make tomorrow different today. Because without a resilient grid, there will be no energy transition.