5 September 2023
Power grids: from bottleneck to accelerator of the energy transition
The EU wants to install around 30 GW of new wind energy every year between now and 2030. Last year it only installed half of that. Delayed grid reinforcement and connections are among the main bottlenecks to the timely installation of new wind energy projects. But Europe cannot reach its energy and climate targets without investments in new manufacturing capacities for grid equipment. Europe’s grid equipment supply chain – substations, transformers, cables, switchgear – is not big enough today. It can produce up to 1,900 km of offshore cables a year today – Europe needs up to 3,200 km by 2030. The same is true for offshore substations. Today Europe can produce only 5 offshore high-voltage direct current (HVDC) substations a year. This needs to grow to 20 substations by 2030.
This one-pager lays out WindEurope’s recommendations on how governments, national regulatory authorities, TSOs and DSOs can ramp up necessary grid investments and accelerate grid connection of renewables in line with Europe’s climate targets.
