The CEO of Hitachi Power explains on the Massive Query why Europe, and the remainder of the world, must urgently spend money on energy grids.
Europe urgently must ramp up funding in its energy grids to fulfill hovering vitality calls for and obtain local weather objectives, Hitachi Power CEO Andreas Schierenbeck has warned.
Talking on The Massive Query with Euronews’ Angela Barnes, Schierenbeck outlined the urgent want for infrastructure enlargement, emphasising that outdated laws and gradual allowing processes are hindering progress.
“We out of the blue discover ourselves in a scenario the place we want rather more electrical vitality than we thought,” Schierenbeck stated.
“Since we received into this example just a little unprepared… now we’re struggling to satisfy the wants. We have to add extra era belongings…we have to add extra grid. There’s a niche.”
500 GW of renewable vitality stalled attributable to grid limitations
One of the crucial hanging challenges, based on Schierenbeck, is that over 500 gigawatts (GW) of renewable vitality capability in Europe is able to join however stays idle as a result of the grid infrastructure isn’t in place. To place it in perspective, 500 GW is sufficient vitality to energy 50 billion LED mild bulbs or to cost round 45 million normal EVs.
This bottleneck threatens Europe’s potential to transition to cleaner vitality sources and meet the Paris Settlement targets by 2030.
Schierenbeck likened the vitality shift to the rise of the web within the Nineteen Nineties, stating that governments and companies should transfer quicker to construct the required infrastructure.
Laws designed to forestall overspending holding again progress
A key impediment, he defined, is that present laws had been designed to forestall pointless public spending moderately than to allow speedy grid enlargement. Whereas this method made sense up to now, it’s now stopping the vitality sector from adapting to pressing demand shifts.
Schierenbeck revealed that whereas grid enlargement tasks sometimes take seven to eight years, solely two to 3 years are spent on development—the remaining time is misplaced in prolonged allowing and approval processes.
“Laws had been constructed to avoid wasting taxpayers cash, to not over-invest,” Schierenbeck stated.
“However now we have to change. The price of not doing something or not being quick sufficient is larger than the price of investing now.”
The necessity for unprecedented collaboration
To beat these hurdles, Schierenbeck referred to as for higher collaboration between governments, companies, and regulators. He pressured that policymakers should recognise the urgency of the scenario and work alongside business leaders to fast-track investments and take away bureaucratic obstacles.
Schierenbeck cited an instance from his previous expertise in Germany, the place a high-pressure gasoline pipeline initially projected to take 5 to seven years was in the end inbuilt simply 9 months attributable to regulatory flexibility.
“So that you see the potential of what we’ve for those who’re doing the correct issues.”
At Hitachi Power, the corporate is actively working to develop manufacturing capability, develop new grid applied sciences, and foster partnerships that may speed up the transition.
Final yr, it introduced an funding of greater than €30 million (approx. $32m) within the enlargement and modernisation of its energy transformer manufacturing facility in Dangerous Honnef, Germany. Anticipated to be accomplished in 2026, the undertaking will generate as much as 100 new jobs within the area and deal with the rising demand for transformers to assist Europe’s clear vitality transition.
This yr, it additionally introduced plans to develop and improve the workforce in its composite element manufacturing unit in Piteå, Sweden.
“This funding addresses the rising demand for energy transmission gear worldwide, pushed by the vitality transition,” an organization assertion stated on its web site.
What Occurs If Europe Fails to Act?
If Europe delays important investments in grids and renewables, the results might be extreme, jeopardising vitality safety, financial stability, and local weather commitments. Nonetheless, Schierenbeck stays cautiously optimistic, believing that innovation and regulatory reforms can nonetheless allow the vitality transition, if the correct steps are taken now.
“We’ll adapt, we are going to discover options,” he stated.
As the worldwide vitality panorama undergoes speedy transformation, Europe’s potential to modernise its energy grid will decide whether or not it might probably lead the clear vitality revolution, or fall behind within the race for a sustainable future.
The Massive Queryis a sequence from Euronews Enterprise the place we sit down with business leaders and specialists to debate a number of the most essential matters on right this moment’s agenda.
Watch the video above for the complete dialog with CEO of Hitachi Power, Andreas Schierenbeck.
Video editor • Nicolas Coquet