Avoiding grid expansion gridlock

7 months ago 27

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EU energy ministers had an informal sit-down in Brussels this week to talk power grids.

A beefed-up electricity network will be critical to deliver a renewables-powered Europe, so it was no surprise that the bloc’s green politicians stole the show.

Tinne Van der Straeten, Belgium’s green minister of energy who chaired the meeting, challenged her fellow ministers: “What can we do to have more energy sovereignty, the 27 of us?”

She pitched the North Sea’s abundant offshore wind energy as a resource for both coastal and landlocked countries.

She was backed by her Austrian and German ministerial counterparts – both also green – who joined the push for deeper European grid integration.

But grid expansion is not just a green preoccupation.

A much anticipated report by former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta is likely to call for a massive investment in electricity transport and distribution grids. The report, due for release on Thursday (18 April), should be a major signpost for the agenda of the next Commission.

Public and private talks in Brussels about the next Commission’s political priorities are all revolving around a common theme – economic competitiveness. And power grids are being positioned as a key enabler of this competitiveness.

In 2030, integration of grids could slash fuel use by 21%, argues economic think tank Bruegel. And it could cut price volatility – industry’s current ‘bête noire’ – by more than two-thirds.

The industry lobby group European Round Table for Industry recently called for action to close an estimated €800 billion grid investment gap. Europe is already finalising new rules to accelerate grid investments.

It seems like grid expansion is something everyone can agree upon.

But not so fast.

European countries are split into two distinct groups: the Austrian-led ‘Friends of Renewables’ group and France’s ‘Nuclear Alliance’.

Pro-renewable countries like Spain, Germany, and Denmark were happy to speak publicly on their way into Monday’s meeting.

But some Nuclear Alliance countries will be less enthused by a vision of renewable energy fluidly crossing national boundaries. Nuclear power production is more stable and less flexible than renewable power, so grid needs are different,

Nuclear Alliance countries were indeed far less inclined to speak to the press before the meeting kicked off.

And Nuclear Alliance leader France – despite having a choice of two energy ministers to send – were represented at the minister’s meeting by a civil servant.

Belgian minister Van der Straeten was asked after the meeting about nuclear power. She struck a compromising note, saying that “the grid doesn’t care about the colour of the electron – whether it’s generated in an onshore wind turbine (…) or a nuclear power facility, it has to be transported”.

But clearly not everyone is experiencing grid expansion fever. More work will be needed, to ensure these divisions don’t turn grid expansion dreams into gridlock.

[Donagh Cagney and Nikolaus J. Kurmayer]

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[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]