The e-Highway2050 clearly identified that Europe needs to expand its electricity transmission grids by 2050 to match the increase in electricity generation, notably wind and solar
November 4, 2015
On November 3, Raul Gil, Chairman of the Europacable Utilities Board represented Europacable at the final eHighway2050 conference “Unveiling the Electricity Highways Project Results: Europe’s Future Secure and Sustainable Electricity Infrastructure” held in Brussels. After 40 months of intense work, the Commission funded project concluded that close to zero emission by 2050 means EUR 100 to 400 billion investment in electricity transmission.
“Looking into Europe´s future grid, partial undergrounding and submarine cables complementing overhead lines in sensitive areas will play a vital role in grid deployment to enhance public acceptance of power transmission lines. We hope that all stakeholders understand this message in Europe,” Mr. Gil stated in his opening message to an audience gathering senior policy makers, regulators and technical experts from across Europe.
The e-Highway2050 clearly identified that Europe needs to expand its electricity transmission grids by 2050 to match the increase in electricity generation, notably wind and solar. “Whatever the European energy landscape will look like in 2050, it appears indispensable for the security and affordability of the power system to reinforce the connections of the North and the South with the Central Continental areas in Europe,” said Gerald Sanchis, e-Highway2050 coordinator.
“Industry is here to deliver Europe´s future grids” was the key message of Mr. Gil´s intervention. Europe´s cable manufacturers are the global technology leaders in the wire and cable business: “With over 70,000 people generating a turnover over EUR 20 billion in 2014, the wire and cable industry will not be the bottleneck to build Europe´s 2050 power transmission grids – neither technological nor capacity-wise. We are ready to deliver. All we call for is a stable regulatory framework which allows us to properly forecast our investments”, he stressed.
With a view to the eHighway2050 Consortium Mr. Gil pointed out that Europacable has been very committed to co-operate in the project as its targets are fully aligned with Europacable objectives: building reliable, state of the art electricity infrastructure is one of the core pillars to define Europe´s future competitiveness, both for Europe´s societies and industries.
Mr. Gil concluded: “We are convinced that the outcome of the work presented here today will contribute to building the right grids for Europe. Europacable remains fully committed to continuing this dialogue moving into the future to ensure that the required electricity highways are built on time and on budget.”
