Latest news with #Eurelectric
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Power Summit 2025: Power Technology's upcoming coverage
Rising cybersecurity threats, procurement issues and escalating geopolitical tensions are testing the resilience of Europe's energy sector. Transport, Big Tech and industry are creating new demands – from lower electricity prices and more competitive contracts for industrials to exponentially higher electricity demand for data centres and AI. Meanwhile, the energy price crisis has caused the average energy consumer to be increasingly sceptical of the power sector and Europe's energy transition. Next week, key players across the world's power sector will gather in Brussels, Belgium, for Eurelectric's Power Summit 2025 to address such concerns. Over two days from 3–4 June, hundreds of attendees and speakers comprising energy policymakers across Europe and C-suite professionals in the industry will gather to discuss revolutionary innovations and pressing concerns pertaining to electricity. Under this year's theme, "Power Play", the 2025 summit will cover the importance of accelerating electrification across all sectors to meet Europe's climate goals; security of supply in a changing world; ensuring Europe's competitiveness on the global stage through innovative energy solutions; and mobilising the investment and infrastructure needed to make this transformation a reality. Power Technology will be there too, with reporter Jackie Park available for interviews on the ground. Contact her at to arrange timings and discuss topics before the event. If you have not done so already, you can register for Power Summit 2025 here. To keep up with Power Technology's coverage, sign up to our newsletter and have in-depth power sector insights delivered straight to your inbox. "Power Summit 2025: Power Technology's upcoming coverage" was originally created and published by Power Technology, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Japan Times
06-05-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
EU power grid needs trillion-dollar upgrade to avert Spain-style blackouts
Europe's aging power grid and lack of energy storage capacity will require trillions of dollars in investments to cope with rising green energy output, increasing electricity demand and to avoid blackouts. A week ago, Spain and Portugal lost power in their worst blackout. Authorities are investigating the cause, but whatever the findings, analysts and industry representatives say infrastructure investment is essential. "The blackout was a wake-up call. It showed that the need to modernize and reinforce Europe's electricity grid is urgent and unavoidable," Kristina Ruby, secretary-general at Eurelectric, Europe's electricity industry association, said. The European Union's power grid mostly dates back to the last century and half the lines are over 40 years old. Rising low-carbon energy production and booming demand from data centers and electric vehicles require an overhaul of the grids that also need digital protection to withstand cyberattacks. While global investment in renewables has nearly doubled since 2010, investment in grids has barely changed at around $300 billion a year. The amount needs to double by 2030 to over $600 billion a year to cover the necessary overhauls, according to the International Energy Agency. Spain has asked its own investigators and European Union regulators to investigate last Monday's outage. Tourists check into a hotel without electricity during a power outage that hit large parts of Spain, in Ronda on April 28. | REUTERS While the underlying issues have yet to become clear, grid operator Red Electrica said two separate incidents had triggered the massive power loss. It follows an acceleration in renewable energy use, especially in Spain, after Russia's invasion invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the resulting disruption of oil and gas supplies focused EU efforts on reducing dependence on fossil fuel. The share of renewables rose to 47% in the EU's power mix last year from 34% in 2019, while fossil fuels dropped to 29% from 39%, data from think tank Ember showed. Spain plans to phase out coal and nuclear power. Renewable generation hit a record high at 56% of Spain's power mix in 2024. Wind and solar projects are relatively quick to build compared with grids, which can take more than a decade. Part of the problem is the huge sums and complexity of improving a grid over a large distance. The European Commission has estimated Europe needs to invest $2.0-2.3 trillion in grids by 2050. Last year, European firms invested €80 billion ($90.5 billion) in grids, up from €50 to €70 billion in previous years, analysts at Bruegel said while adding investments may need to rise to 100 billion. Spain and Portugal's power systems are among those in Europe that lack connections to other grids that can provide back up. Spain needs more links to France and Morocco, said Jose Luis Dominguez-Garcia from Spain's energy research center IREC in Catalunya. Spain has only 5% of connections outside the Iberian Peninsula, he added. As some other countries also lag, the European Commission has a target to increase interconnection to 15% by 2030, from a previous goal of 10%, meaning each EU member country should be able to import at least 15% of its power production capacity from neighboring countries. Spain will reinforce connections with France, including a new link via the Bay of Biscay that will double the interconnection capacity between the two countries, Spain's grid Red Electrica said on Tuesday. As solar and wind generation grows, the challenges go beyond upgrading grids to the need for backup generation. Solar and wind farms generate direct current power, while traditional gas or nuclear plants generate alternating current. DC power is converted to AC in inverters to standard 50 hertz frequency for European grids and use in homes and businesses. If power generation drops, the grid requires backup AC power to prevent the frequency from dropping. In the event frequency drops, automatic safety mechanisms disconnect some generation to prevent overheating, damage to transformers or transmission lines. If too many plants drop off at the same time, the system can experience a blackout. Before last week's outage, Spain had suffered power glitches and industry officials had repeatedly warned of grid instability. Spain's energy officials have also said the country's plans to shut down all seven of its nuclear reactors by 2035 could put power supply at risk. Portugal has only two backup plants — a gas and a hydro plant — able to quickly respond if the grid needs more power, Portugal's Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said last Tuesday, adding the country wants more. In Britain, a blackout in 2019 cut power to a million customers, when a lightning strike and a second, unrelated incident lowered the frequency of the grid. Since then, the country has invested to expand battery storage and had around 5 gigawatts of capacity installed at the end of last year, according to industry association RenewableUK. It can help balance the grid in the same way as power plants. Europe has 10.8 GW of battery storage and it will grow to 50 GW by 2030 — much less than the required 200 GW, according to the European Association for Storage of Energy. In Ireland, Siemens Energy has built the world's largest flywheel, which can also operate as power storage and help to stabilize the grid.
Time of India
05-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
EU power grid needs trillion-dollar upgrade to avert Spain-style blackouts
Europe's ageing power grid and lack of energy storage capacity will require trillions of dollars in investments to cope with rising green energy output, increasing electricity demand and to avoid blackouts. #Pahalgam Terrorist Attack Inside Operation Tupac: Pakistan's secret project to burn Kashmir Who is Asim Munir, the Zia-style general shaping Pakistan's faith-driven military revival 'Looking for partners, not preachers': India's strong message for EU amid LoC tensions A week ago, Spain and Portugal lost power in their worst blackout. Authorities are investigating the cause, but whatever the findings, analysts and industry representatives say infrastructure investment is essential. "The blackout was a wake-up call. It showed that the need to modernise and reinforce Europe's electricity grid is urgent and unavoidable," Kristina Ruby, secretary general at Eurelectric, Europe's electricity industry association, said. GIF89a����!�,D; 5 5 Next Stay Playback speed 1x Normal Back 0.25x 0.5x 1x Normal 1.5x 2x 5 5 / Skip Ads by The European Union 's power grid mostly dates back to the last century and half the lines are over 40 years old. Rising low-carbon energy production and booming demand from data centres and electric vehicles require an overhaul of the grids that also need digital protection to withstand cyber attacks. While global investment in renewables has nearly doubled since 2010, investment in grids has barely changed at around $300 billion a year. The amount needs to double by 2030 to over $600 billion a year to cover the necessary overhauls, according to the International Energy Agency. Live Events Spain has asked its own investigators and European Union regulators to investigate last Monday's outage. While the underlying issues have yet to become clear, grid operator Red Electrica said two separate incidents had triggered the massive power loss. It follows an acceleration in renewable energy use, especially in Spain, after Russia's invasion invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the resulting disruption of oil and gas supplies focused EU efforts on reducing dependence on fossil fuel. The share of renewables rose to 47% in the EU's power mix last year from 34% in 2019, while fossil fuels dropped to 29% from 39%, data from think tank Ember showed. Spain plans to phase out coal and nuclear power. Renewable generation hit a record high at 56% of Spain's power mix in 2024. Wind and solar projects are relatively quick to build compared with grids, which can take more than a decade. Part of the problem is the huge sums and complexity of improving a grid over a large distance. The European Commission has estimated Europe needs to invest $2.0-2.3 trillion in grids by 2050. Last year, European firms invested 80 billion euros ($90.5 billion) in grids, up from 50-70 billion in previous years, analysts at Bruegel said while adding investments may need to rise to 100 billion. INTER-STATE CONNECTIONS Spain and Portugal's power systems are among those in Europe that lack connections to other grids that can provide back up. Spain needs more links to France and Morocco, said Jose Luis Dominguez-Garcia from Spain's energy research centre IREC in Catalunya. Spain has only 5% of connections outside the Iberian Peninsula, he added. As some other countries also lag, the European Commission has a target to increase interconnection to 15% by 2030, from a previous goal of 10%, meaning each EU member country should be able to import at least 15% of its power production capacity from neighbouring countries. Spain will reinforce connections with France, including a new link via the Bay of Biscay that will double the interconnection capacity between the two countries, Spain's grid Red Electrica said on Tuesday. NEED FOR BACK UP As solar and wind generation grows, the challenges go beyond upgrading grids to the need for back-up generation. Solar and wind farms generate direct current power, while traditional gas or nuclear plants generate alternating current. DC power is converted to AC in inverters to standard 50 Hertz frequency for European grids and use in homes and businesses. If power generation drops, the grid requires back-up AC power to prevent the frequency from dropping. In the event frequency drops, automatic safety mechanisms disconnect some generation to prevent overheating, damage to transformers or transmission lines. If too many plants drop off at the same time, the system can experience a blackout. Before last week's outage, Spain had suffered power glitches and industry officials had repeatedly warned of grid instability. Spain's energy officials have also said the country's plans to shut down all seven of its nuclear reactors by 2035 could put power supply at risk. Portugal has only two back-up plants - a gas and a hydro plant - able to quickly respond if the grid needs more power, Portugal's Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said on Tuesday, adding the country wants more. In Britain, a blackout in 2019 cut power to a million customers, when a lightning strike and a second, unrelated incident lowered the frequency of the grid. Since then, the country has invested to expand battery storage and had around 5 gigawatts of capacity installed at the end of last year, according to industry association RenewableUK. It can help balance the grid in the same way as power plants. Europe has 10.8 gigawatts of battery storage and it will grow to 50 GW by 2030 - much less than the required 200 GW, according to the European Association for Storage of Energy. In Ireland, Siemens Energy has built the world's largest flywheel, which can also operate as power storage and help to stabilise the grid.
Euronews
05-05-2025
- Business
- Euronews
Spanish power cut highlights fundamental weakness in EU power grid
ADVERTISEMENT The massive power outage in Spain and Portugal this week has raised questions about whether Europe's power grid is ready for the rapid electrification and ramping up of renewable energy sources like wind and solar called for by EU climate policy and increasingly seen as a geopolitical imperative. One theory that has been gaining traction in the hours since the power outage just after 12:30 on Monday is that the collapse was triggered by the failure of a high voltage power line between France and Spain. That is certainly the theory being pushed by the electricity company association Eurelectric. 'On Monday 28 April, between 12:38 and 13:30 CET, Spain's transmission system was disconnected from the European grid at the 400 kV level due to an issue with a power line connecting French and Spanish Catalonia,' the industry group said on Tuesday. 'The fault triggered a domino disrupting electricity supply not only in Spain but also in Portugal, Andorra, and parts of France,' Eurelectric said. Why that happened has yet to be clarified. Briefing journalists, a European Commission energy official said that EU regulations require the transmission system operators (TSOs) involved in the incident to conduct a detailed investigation and produce a report within six months. TSO data shows the point just after 12:30 on Monday 28 April when Spain's electricity grid collapsed Source: Red Eléctrica One thing seems clear, however: there was no shortage of electricity moments before the crash, when solar power alone was covering over half of demand, and surplus power was being exported to France via a 2.8GW high-voltage interconnector. It remains to be established exactly what tripped a precipitous shutdown of solar power – over 10 GW in a matter of minutes – and all other sources in the generation mix. Electricity islands The European Commission has recognised that Europe's power grid is not fit for purpose, and will need to be rapidly built up in line with rising demand, driven largely by the planned electrification of sectors that have traditionally been powered by fossil fuels: electric cars replacing petrol and diesel models, and heat pumps replacing gas boilers. In the Clean Industrial Deal published in February, the EU executive promised to deliver a 'grids package' early in 2026, which should put legislative flesh on the bones of an 'action plan' delivered in late 2023. It is now aiming at presenting the package towards the end of this year. Electricity firms are among those pushing hardest for the EU to take decisive action. 'As society relies more and more on electricity, it's crucial that electricity is reliable,' Eurelectric secretary-general Kristian Ruby said. Under the current target, all EU countries should have in place internal and cross border power lines capable of importing or exporting 15% of their national generation capacity. The European Commission estimates this could cost €584 billion, a figure the EU executive said in its last annual energy review 'might put the current model of refinancing these investments through consumer tariffs under strain'. To make things worse, as the campaign group Climate Action Network Europe noted recently , the 11 countries that have not yet met the 15% target are home to 86% of the EU's wind and solar capacity. Apart from isolated Cyprus and Ireland, whose first power line to the EU (now the UK no longer counts) is under construction, Spain is the furthest from meeting the 2030 connection target. It is currently on just 4%, one point behind fellow laggards Greece, Italy and Poland, although a second link to France, under the Bay of Biscay, is under construction and due online in 2028. 'Widespread blackouts like this have virtually always been triggered by transmission network failures - not by generation, renewables or otherwise," said Michael Hogan, a senior advisor at the Regulatory Assistance Project, an NGO specialising in energy policy. ADVERTISEMENT The degree to which its relative isolation from the European grid contributed to the disastrous power cut should be established in the coming weeks, but it undoubtedly prevents surplus green electricity being channelled to other parts of Europe that could use it to replace coal or gas-fired generation. Huge amounts of energy and money are wasted each year when solar arrays are switched off or wind turbines brought to a standstill simply because there is nowhere for the electricity to go. France, where nuclear power predominates, is only capable of shunting the equivalent 6% of its generation potential across its borders. And even Germany, which prides itself on its energy transition is only at 11%. A patchwork of grids Euronews asked Ronnie Belmans, emeritus professor at the KU Leuven university in Belgium and a veteran expert on power grids, how repeats of the Iberian blackout could be avoided in future. ADVERTISEMENT "First of all, you need a good grid," Belmans said. "Spain is not well connected to the rest of Europe, they have only one serious connection," Belmans said, in reference to the trans-Pyrenean line. The situation – which some have blamed at least in part on a reluctance over the years of the French government to expose its nuclear industry to competition from cheaper green energy – was "shameful" he said. Related Is France an obstacle to the Iberian Peninsula's goal of becoming an energy supplier? Moreover, grid planning in Europe is currently largely in the hands of transmission system operators, through a quasi-official EU body known as ENTSO-E – a situation that critics have long complained entails a conflict of interests. For Belmans, having a "bunch of TSOs sitting together around the table" at regular intervals and presenting their own national plans – reflecting their own economic interests – is no way to run a European power grid. ADVERTISEMENT "What is missing is an independent development plan in Europe," he said, suggesting that steps should be made towards an independent transnational system operator under the control of the EU's energy regulatory agency ACER. 'It could be empowered to designate how much and where new overlay grid capacity is needed independent of national borders,' Belmans said. With the European Commission still working on its grids package, the next indication of its appetite for reform should come next week, with the expected publication of a plan to wean Europe off Russian fossil fuels by 2027. With scant petroleum resources of its own, the EU has already increased its renewable energy targets and streamlined planning procedures since the Ukraine invasion. Even before this week's events, whatever proves to be their specific cause, it was clear Europe's grid wasn't ready. ADVERTISEMENT
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Europe's Grid Buckles Under Its Own Future
Monday's massive power outage in Spain and Portugal, Europe's worst blackout, triggered a lot of questions, concerns, and a blame game of who done it. On Monday midday, a sudden massive outage hit the electricity transmission systems of Spain and Portugal, and briefly parts of France, in a very rare blackout in Europe, whose causes are yet to be determined. The blackout, which began at around 12:00 PM GMT on Monday, hit major cities and transportation networks, leaving authorities scrambling to restore power and ascertain the underlying cause. Airports grounded flights, hospitals postponed routine surgeries, while authorities in both Spain and Portugal declared a state of emergency. Internet and mobile phone services were were quick to point the finger at renewable energy—solar power provided nearly 60% of Spain's electricity generation immediately before the massive loss of power, while wind energy accounted for another 10%. Initial speculation swirled around a possible cyber attack or the high dependence of the grid on renewable power generation. Spain and the EU are investigating the cause, but it appears that a cyber attack could be ruled out. 'On Monday 28 April, between 12:38 and 13:30 CET, Spain's transmission system was disconnected from the European grid at the 400 kV level due to an issue with a power line connecting French and Spanish Catalonia. The fault triggered a domino disrupting electricity supply not only in Spain but also in Portugal, Andorra, and parts of France,' said Eurelectric, the federation of the European electricity industry. What's certain is that there wasn't a shortage of electricity generation before the event. There were reports of anomalous oscillations in the high-voltage lines before the power shut down. These oscillations caused synchronization failures between the electrical systems and eventually ended in disturbances across the interconnected European network, Eurelectric said. One possible reason for the massive loss of power could be the insufficient grid inertia, which is critical for maintaining a steady frequency. While stable baseload power generators such as gas power plants or nuclear power have spinning generators creating inertia, solar and wind power don't have rotating generators to keep the inertia long enough to keep the grid frequency in case of sudden power loss, Reuters Energy Columnist Ron Bousso notes. Grids need to have their frequency stable at 50 Hertz to ensure a steady power supply. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said suggestions that Spain's high share of renewable energy was to blame for the outage were 'lies'. 'Those linking the blackout to the lack of nuclear power are either lying or demonstrating their ignorance,' Sanchez the cause, the worst blackout in Europe and the first major system collapse in the era of booming renewable energy installations highlighted the need for investments in storage and grid resilience. Spain's 'extraordinary event is a stark reminder that the grid is the backbone of our society. With electricity playing an increasingly important role in our society, we need to create all the conditions for enable a secure electricity supply,' Eurelectric said. David Brayshaw, Professor of Climate Science and Energy Meteorology at the University of Reading in the UK, commented on the blackout, 'If something on the network — a generator, a power line, or even a large electricity user — suddenly disappears, it creates a supply-demand imbalance and the system frequency starts to shift.' Brayshaw noted that if the shift becomes too large, other components can trip offline, 'creating a snowball effect that worsens the imbalance and can trigger a major blackout — sometimes within seconds.' The Spanish blackout unfolded in a matter of seconds. Dr Omid Shariati, lecturer in Sustainable Technologies at the University of Reading, said that 'a single transmission line failure shouldn't cause widespread blackouts if proper security planning is in place.' But the expert noted that 'no grid is 100% secure, and there's always a small risk of multiple severe problems happening at once.' In the case of Europe, where renewable energy installations are booming, the grid is not ready to handle all that new inverter-based – not inertia-creating – supply. Analysts and forecasters have been warning for years that investment in grid capacity, resilience, and transmission lines is lagging behind the rollout of renewables. Grid investments are lagging behind renewable additions and a lack of transmission capacity could hold back the energy transition, think tank Ember said in a report last year. 'Making sure solar and wind can actually connect to the system is as critical as the panels and turbines themselves,' says Elisabeth Cremona, Energy & Climate Data Analyst at Ember. 'There is no transition without transmission.' The EU and the world as a whole are unprepared for the massive roll-out of wind and solar—investments in grids are currently insufficient to handle the boom, while energy storage is also behind the curve of renewable power generation. 'As Europe ramps up renewable energy deployment and increasingly electrifies the economy, electricity production and demand are expected to double by 2050,' Agora Energiewende, a think tank, said in a report in 2024. 'A high number of additional generators and consumers will be connected to the power grid at the distribution level. This poses challenges to the existing infrastructure which was not built to handle such increased loads.' By Tsvetana Paraskova for More Top Reads From this article on
