Thu. Dec 26th, 2024
Brussels, 16 April 2024
“Check against delivery”

Let me begin by thanking Minister van der Straeten for his hospitality and for organising today’s timely discussion on the importance of energy infrastructure.

Just last week, I finished a series of nine clean transition dialogues with European industry and social partners –> the need for modern infrastructure has been one of its key takeaways.

The reason is simple. Underdeveloped energy infrastructure, especially at the distribution level, can create bottlenecks in the green transition and the electrification of our economy.

Today’s Ministerial exchange has shown that the political and industrial levels are on the same page here.

The swift implementation of the EU Action Plan for Grids and the relevant European legislation, such as the TEN-E Regulation, the RED III directive, and the regulation on permitting, remains our top priority.

Time is of the essence, and we need to shift into higher gear when addressing this challenge. Because it is about our energy as well as economic security, about affordable energy prices, and about our overall competitiveness.

In practice:

  • Some 40% of distribution electricity grids in the EU are more than 40 years old;
  • We need to double our existing cross-border transmission infrastructure by 2030;
  • While over 580 billion euros in investment is estimated to be necessary for the electricity grids in this decade alone, of which the majority should be dedicated to distribution.

My message today was clear:

First, we need to digitalise and accelerate the roll-out of energy infrastructure, especially grids, in line with the EU Action Plan for Grids.

And second, we should apply the principle of open strategic autonomy and competitive sustainability here as well.

It means delivering in three areas:

Scaling-up our existing clean-tech manufacturing capacity, as agreed in the Net-Zero Industry Act.

Providing increased visibility to manufacturers of strategic components in upcoming procurement plans for cables, pipes, and equipment by TSOs and DSOs.

This could also be addressed by developing demand standardisation.

Moving from a custom-design approach to mass production, in order to lower costs, accelerate project delivery, and increase the amount of output from existing manufacturing facilities.

So, a lot of food for thought today. Once again, thank you for organising this timely discussion. And I’m ready to answer some questions.

Source – EU Commission

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