“Electricity infrastructure is also a political infrastructure and we need to increase its resilience by the end of the year”. At the first High-Level Electricity Grids Forum, organised on 7 September by ENTSO-E under the patronage of the European Commission, Kadri Simson, European Commissioner for Energy, presented the broad outlines of a “pragmatic” action to respond to the crucial challenges facing the European Union in this area.
One of the main challenges mentioned by Ms Simson was the investment dilemma. The ambitions in terms of renewable energy are high, with targets of 42.5% renewable energy by 2030, and even 45% by 2030. However, “public financial resources are limited”, she explained.
To overcome this constraint, Ms Simson proposed developing a wider range of financial instruments and increasing their access to funding. She stressed the importance of ongoing dialogue between industry, investors and financial institutions such as the European Investment Bank (EIB).
Ms Simson also suggested putting in place concrete mechanisms to encourage green investment. She proposed putting these issues on the agenda of the next EU Investor Dialogue on Energy and the Copenhagen Infrastructure Forum. These initiatives aimed to find viable solutions to mobilise more funding.
The regulatory dimension is closely linked to the issue of financing, added the Commissioner for Energy. Kadri Simson then put forward the need for a more flexible and adaptable tariff framework, which takes account of both investment and operating costs and is in line with the reform of the design of the electricity market in Europe (see EUROPE 13217/11). She also stressed the need to strengthen incentives for flexibility solutions.
Another major factor has been the acceleration in the digitalisation of the energy system. “With the rise of solar and wind power, it has become increasingly important to match supply and demand in real time”, noted Ms Simson, who saw digitalisation and flexibility as key levers for efficient energy management.
While the cross-border interconnection of electricity grids was highlighted as a way of guaranteeing Europe’s security of supply, Kadri Simson also stressed the need to increase the resilience of electricity infrastructures, notably by strengthening cyber security for the electricity sector. She also proposed simplifying the rules on permits and authorisations to speed up projects.
Finally, the European Commissioner recalled the essential role of the private sector in the energy transition and encouraged the creation of a pipeline of capacity-building projects for manufacturers, in particular by assessing projects to update national energy and climate passports. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)