Accelerating the Energy Transition: Optimised Power Grids for a Clean and Green Future
4 November 2020
On 30th October, currENT hosted a webinar on how the optimisation of power grids can accelerate the uptake of renewables and ultimately the decarbonisation of Europe by 2050.
This webinar was the first in the new ‘Accelerating the Energy Transition’ series and will be followed by webinars on the roles of DC grids and Dynamic Line Ratings in delivering on the European Green Deal.
A panel of industry leaders from government, industry and academia provided a variety of perspectives on optimising the use of existing infrastructure in the context of electrification, available and new innovative solutions, (COVID) constrained budgets, and the need to accelerate the uptake of renewables for the Green Deal.
Highlights included:
- Susanne Nies (currENT) opened the webinar by introducing currENT and outlining how concepts such as the NOVA principle in Germany can accelerate our progress towards the targets of 55% reduction in GHG emissions by 2030 and Net Zero by 2050.
- Alberto Pototschnig (Florence School of Regulation) presented four key recommendations for the revision of the TEN-E Regulation, relating to the CBA methodology, the scenarios for PCIs, the CBCA, and CEF funding.
- Marie Hayden (Smart Wires) outlined the importance of reducing network congestion in the context of the climate imperative and presented the benefits of technology solutions that maximise use of the existing grid, using the example of several modular power flow control projects from across the world.
- Henriette Nesheim (DG ENER) provided an update on the revision of the TEN-E Regulation which is due to be completed later this year, and summarised the conclusions of the 2020 Infrastructure Forum.
- Giles Dickson (WindEurope) discussed the role of grid optimisation in the context of integrating the 450 GW of offshore wind that will be connected by 2050 and the need for hybrid offshore wind farms to be fully interoperable.
- Hakon Borgen (ENTSO-E) presented the Research, Development & Innovation Committee’s recently launched Roadmap 2020-2030 which aims to accelerate the uptake of innovation in Europe through six Flagship projects
- The webinar concluded with a thought-provoking discussion between the panelists covering a range of topics including the uptake of grid optimisation technologies by TSOs, the value of delivering projects on time, and how maximising the use of existing networks can support achievement of the 70% MinRAM target across Europe
Also don’t forget to see the conclusions from our webinar on the role of DC grids to enable decarbonisation and register for our next webinar on how Dynamic Line Rating optimise the grid. More details and registration link here.