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Agenda of the Informal meeting of EU energy ministers

15 April - 16 April

Date: 15 – 16 April 2024

Address: Egmont Palace, Brussels, Belgium

The Belgian Federal Minister of Energy is inviting her European Energy colleagues to the informal Energy Council in Brussels to exchange views on how to advance sustainable electricity infrastructure in Europe, addressing planning, financing, ensuring resilience and pushing speed and scale.

The informal Energy ministerial meeting will be held under the Belgian presidency of the Council on 15 and 16 April 2024 at the Egmont Palace, in Brussels.

The crucial role of electricity grids in reaching energy and climate targets

Electricity grid infrastructure serves as the backbone of the green energy transition considering its crucial role in providing access to abundant volumes of low marginal cost of electricity for our industries and citizens. That is the reason the Belgian presidency has decided to highlight this topic during its informal Energy Council.

Long-term planning of the EU electricity grid

The significance of strategic grid infrastructure planning cannot be overstated as, according to the TYNDP 2022 Systems Needs Study by ENTSO-E, there will be a requirement from 2025 to 2030 to install 64 GW of additional cross-border electricity transmission grid capacity. Additionally, a capacity of 24 GW will be required by 2040 to keep pace with the rapid changes in electricity demand and supply. Electricity infrastructure needs to follow in terms of capacity, flexibility and interconnectivity among EU Member States.

Financing & de-risking tools

Funding the necessary grid reinforcements requires the mobilisation of vast resources, but the funding currently falls short. According to REPowerEU, a total of 584 billion euro of investments in electricity infrastructure is required between 2022-2030. Streamlining of existing financing mechanisms while better linking them to the outcome of the coordinated planning approach, increasing available public budgets, looking at innovative financing schemes (e.g. an Offshore Investment Facility), and the development or enhancement of frameworks for cross-border cost allocation and anticipatory investments are some of the elements that will be discussed.

Drive scale and speed

In addition to the planning and financing aspects of vital projects to achieve the energy transition, it is imperative to focus on their implementation as well. Accelerating the speed of permit granting and enhancing the scale and speed of supply chains through standardisation are essential to surmount the obstacles that prolong the lead time of these projects. An aligned policy between all Member States would drive the speed of the energy transition by reducing the complexity and excessive length of national permit-granting processes.

The informal Energy Council

The Belgian Federal Minister of Energy invites her Energy colleagues to discuss how to advance sustainable energy infrastructure in Europe. The ministers will discuss the need for a better coordinated and integrated European electricity network, the financing and de-risking aspects of cross-border electricity infrastructure investments and how to ensure the resilience of our grid. The next day, the discussions will focus on the importance of driving scale and speed of electricity infrastructure through standardisation and permit-granting. A press conference will conclude the informal Energy Council on 16 April 2024.

The aim of this meeting is to provide a unique opportunity for ministers to work together on further development of electricity grid infrastructure in Europe, considering the rise of grid connection requests, geopolitical uncertainties and the energy transition agenda.

Based on those insightful discussions, the Belgian presidency will draft Council conclusions on electricity infrastructure that will be presented for adoption during the next formal European Energy Council taking place on Thursday 30 May 2024 in Brussels.

Investments needed for cross-border electricity infrastructure expansion reach 3.5 billion euro per year in the period 2025-2040.

Document: Informal Energy 15042024 Press Kit – PDF – 202Kb – Download document

 

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Details

Start:
15 April
End:
16 April
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Venue

Egmont Palace
Place du Petit Sablon / Kleine Zavel 8
Brussels, 1000 Belgium
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Organizer

Belgian EU Presidency
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