ENTSO-EENTSO-E, the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity, Europacable, representing Europe’s leading wire and cable producers, and T&D Europe, representing Europe’s grid technology providers have set out to work together to ensure the timely build-out of Europe’s transmission grids for the energy transition.
In the recent EU Action Plan for Grids released by the European Commission last November, the EU outlined a series of concrete actions to ensure the readiness of the electricity grids to meet energy targets and ensure they will be rolled out further and faster. In particular, Action 13 of the Action Plan called upon ENTSO-E to collaborate with technology providers “to develop common technology specifications and improve visibility of grid project pipelines, to facilitate investments in manufacturing capacity and secure supply chains”.
In response, ENTSO-E, Europacable and T&D Europe have now set out to implement Action 13 in an efficient and transparent manner with the aim of realising Europe’s decarbonisation ambitions. This will be done by increasing efficiency, speeding up grid deployment and reducing redundancies in the planning and execution of high-voltage land and subsea grid projects in the interest of the European consumers, also by using the opportunities existing digitalization solutions offer today. We aim at concrete measures that can be taken to further harmonise grid project development and deployment practices throughout Europe, including short term solutions that will deliver tangible benefits, as well as longer-term solutions such as technical standardisation and network codes. Our objective is to identify best practices and to introduce indicators of their expected impact to speed up grid deployment to allow for an appropriate prioritisation of actions. We will develop tracking indicators to monitor progress and identify areas for further exchange of experience. We look forward to implementing these as soon as possible to ensure Europe’s grids are ready to empower Europe’s energy transition.
Damian Cortinas, Chair of the ENTSO-E Board, welcomes the start of this cooperation: “Strong and efficient supply chains are one of the main challenges to deliver the electricity transmission infrastructure that Europe needs for our energy transition. We believe this transition should not only bring carbon neutrality but also contribute to European competitiveness and energy security. Europe today has world-class cable manufacturers, and ENTSO-E welcomes this new cooperation with Europacable and T&D Europe in line with the European Grid Action Plan, as we aim to ensure timely delivery of critical components, increase efficiency, and lower the cost of our transmission infrastructure to the benefit of all European electricity consumers.”
Marcello Del Brenna, Chair of Europacable Energy Infrastructure Team and Member of the Executive Board, underlines the readiness of Europe’s leading cable manufacturers: “The bold investment announcements Europacable members made already in 2023 are proof our industry’s commitment to deliver the cables Europe needs. Our investments will secure our global technology leadership, create lasting jobs and foster European growth. Viable investment conditions, clear demand visibility and fair market conditions are prerequisites for further expansion and will safeguard the competitiveness of EU manufacturing. We look forward to working with our partners from ENTSO-E to streamline project processes, which will allow us to fast-track project deployment. This, combined with a strong EU manufacturing capacity, is what Europe needs to empower a timely energy transition.”
Jochen Kreusel, President of T&D Europe, stresses that T&D Europe and its members are committed to support the implementation of the Action Plan: “Europe’s grid technology sector is a vital European and national interest. We are committed to increase manufacturing capacity in Europe to meet growing demand in alignment with adequate and tangible political, financial, and regulatory support. Based on clear commitments from regulators and network operators together with a stable regulatory framework the industry will be able to make the business case with a competitive return on equity to add capacity, to organise its supply chain and to recruit and develop the necessary skills. European manufacturers are investing in supply chains to ensure that the equipment required by system operators for the energy transition could be delivered on time, in the needed volumes, and without compromise to quality and reliability. This process will keep contributing to the European digital and clean energy transitions, economic growth, and jobs creation. We look forward with ENTSO-E and its members in an efficient and transparent way to strengthen further the European value chain”.
Find official statement here.