Massively expanding Europe’s electricity grid will be “costly and…technically challenging” but absolutely essential for the transition away from fossil fuels, according to Spanish minister for ecological transition Teresa Ribera, who is tipped for a key role in the next European Commission.
“Europe is probably the part of the world where the grids are most modern [but] we still need to invest a lot, almost to double the capacity [in a] very short time,” Ribera said in Brussels on Wednesday (4 September) at a forum hosted by the economics think tank Bruegel.
Ribera, also a deputy prime minister in Spain’s socialist government, is among the most senior national politicians of the nominees to form president Ursula von der Leyen’s second EU executive.
Diplomatic sources told the Spanish news agency EFE last week that she was eyeing a vice-presidential position and a portfolio that covers the “modernisation of Europe from an economic, industrial and climate perspective”. This tallies with a leaked document circulating within von der Leyen's European People's Party, and seen by Euronews.
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This fits the description of Green Industrial Deal that European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is making a hallmark of her second administration. The plain Green Deal, the flagship policy agenda of her first five years, was overseen by a dedicated executive vice-president in the form of Frans Timmermans, until the Dutch politician returned to domestic politics.
With the EU already committed to net-zero by mid-century, and the Commission expected to propose an interim target of 90% greenhouse gas reduction by 2040, electrification of transport, heating and many industries is deemed essential in all scenarios modelled in impact assessments. The electricity industry estimates that annual investment equivalent to 0.4% of the EU’s economic output will be needed to bolster local distribution grids alone.
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Ribera pointed also to the need to meet and go beyond targets for cross-border transmission lines, with member states required to ensure that by 2030 they can import the equivalent of 15% of domestic electricity production capacity when necessary – allowing for the transfer of large volumes of power back and forth across Europe to balance an increasing share of variable renewable power output.
“The theme is connection, and if not, what,” Ribera said. “Spain or Portugal would transform electricity into hydrogen? To do that is not rational,” she said. “That's why I think the Commission has to take over saying it's a European project.”
Ribera – who should know what job Von der Leyen has in mind for her by 11 September when the president is expected to divvy up the various portfolios in her next Commission – acknowledged that the huge cost involved could not be covered by public funds.
Nor could electricity consumers be expected to cover the costs in the short-term, the Spanish politician suggested, which would only lead to a “drain on the economy and families”. Instead, the EU would need to find financial solutions to bridge the gap between paying for grid infrastructure and the return on investment in the form of lower energy prices.
“It is a great excuse to build Europe, to…think beyond national interests, and to build a common project around this,” Ribera said.
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