The Greek delegation stresses the importance of a European electricity network capable of supporting and accelerating the green transition, in a paper submitted to the European Council and published on Thursday 23 March ahead of next week’s ‘Energy’ Council.
“Modern grids will drive the growth of renewable energy and are needed to support the electrification of the buildings, transport and industrial sectors. Yet investment in grids is below what is needed for a net zero energy system”, the paper says in its introduction.
The Greek delegation therefore insists on redoubling efforts to strengthen the European electricity network, focusing on four pillars: - improve North-South electricity flows to enhance the complementarity between solar and wind generation over a season; - provide for a targeted initiative to modernise the network in the Western Balkans; - extend the regulation simplifying the licensing of renewable energy projects to networks; - rationalise and centralise existing funding programmes and develop additional resources.
The Greek president’s chief energy advisor, Nikos Tsafos, reiterated the importance of the initiative on Twitter on Friday 24 March: “Electricity networks are the backbone of the clean energy economy, which is why Greece is calling for more coordinated action to build the grid we need in Europe”.
The Greek initiative will therefore be on the table of the Energy Council on 28 March.
To see the Greek delegation’s background paper: https://aeur.eu/f/60o (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)