European electricity companies want to avoid at all costs possible general blackouts in their respective countries, like what happened in Spain last April. The solution, they say, could lie in the 1.5% of GDP committed between the European Union and NATO. Therefore, the … association of electrical companies of the Old Continent, Eurelectric, in a letter sent to energy ministers of EU countrieswhich will meet on December 15 in Brussels to discuss security of supply, proposes that the Twenty-Seven use part of the 250 billion euros that could be allocated to defense-related investments, resulting from the allied commitment to finance up to 1.5% of GDP in security capacities, to strengthen the electricity sector.
The message from the electricity companies comes at a key moment for the sector as the European Commission plans to present today Wednesday a project to strengthen networks and accelerate the electrification of the EU productive system.
“Guaranteeing the supply of electricity is an existential imperative for the EU,” underlines Eurelectric in the letter to sector ministers. Concretely, the employers’ association of electricity companies – of which it is part through our national associations, the Spanish companies Iberdrola, Endesa, Naturgy and Repsol, as well as other important distributors and producers – is asking to create reserves of essential components, to finance systems for detecting and neutralizing drones, improve cybersecurity and accelerate the ability to quickly repair damaged infrastructure.
The employer emphasizes that energy infrastructure have become the target of hybrid attacks in a context of growing geopolitical tensions and strategic competition between great powers and adds that “energy security is synonymous with electrical security”.
“Preparing for physical attacks and cyberattacks, practicing response and recovery planning must become the new normal,” said the organization, which advocates carrying out joint exercises between companies, civil authorities and military units strengthen response capacity.
Second priority
But the demands do not stop there. As second priorityEurelectric called for “optimizing open strategic autonomy”, so that the EU finds “an appropriate balance between ending dependence on imports and the costs arising from strict local content requirements”.
Eurelectric also claims to guarantee a “secure electricity supply” through “holistic” system planning, greater investments in new secure infrastructure and market mechanisms that allow the deployment of more flexible resources, considered essential to maintain supply “in all scenarios”.
At the same time, the European Commission will today present new details on its highly anticipated “EU Grids Package” (EU Network Package), a set of measures intended to transform electricity networks which are no longer efficient, in particular with more and more clean energy circulating in the system.
The package should include recommendations streamline licensing, recognized as the main obstacle to network transformation, and advance digitalization. With him, Brussels will also present the “Energy Highways” initiative, designed as the major energy corridor of the European future.
The experts consulted agree that the continent’s electricity networks are lagging behind the dizzying growth of renewable energies. The Commission itself estimates that between 40 and 55% of low voltage lines will be more than four decades old by 2030 and estimates that Europe will have to invest 730 billion euros in distribution and 472 billion in electricity transmission by 2040. An unprecedented renewal.
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