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Electricity grids and storage, key to the future of renewable energy
Nobody questions that renewable energy is a fundamental part of the energy transition, but it is not enough on its own for achieving the net-zero goal. Joint and simultaneous action must be taken on the core pillars of this transition - decarbonisation, electrification and digitalisation - and available technologies must be accelerated while maintaining research on their improvement.
On electricity grids
One clear example of that need for joint action comes from the warning issued by the International Energy Agency (IEA) on the state of electricity grids around the world.
The agency has estimated that current investment in power grids should be at least doubled to 600 billion euros a year between now and 2030 because that is the only way to avoid the risk of slowing the development of renewable energy. It sees a lack of ambition and believes that the world should add or replace 80 million kilometres of power grid lines by 2040, a figure that equates to the entire existing global grid. It should be stressed at this point that electricity grids not only have to meet existing needs but also serve as the basis to meet future needs. They need to be ahead of the curve.
In that regard, the European energy sector association, Eurelectric and wind power company association, Wind Europe claim that Europe needs to accelerate the development of electricity transmission and distribution grids by strengthening those that already exist and increasing their flexibility if climate targets are to be achieved while guaranteeing supply.
They claim “that the European Commission should lead the way by incentivising anticipatory investment and best practices with a new European Action Plan for the Grid”. Action should be taken that will enable grid connections to be optimised in the short term and thereby achieve faster integration of PV and wind power.
The answer to decarbonisation and supply security will depend on locally produced renewable electrification, which requires larger investments and an urgent upgrade and expansion of the grid capable of allowing for electrification rates to be tripled by 2050.
According to the Secretary General at Eurelectric, Kristian Ruby, “we need more lines, more digitalisation and more climate resilience to get our grids fit for net-zero”. He also insists that “the energy system is changing fast, so we need a new, forward-looking approach when we modernise and expand our electricity grid. This means designing network plans with a stronger renewable focus that considers wider time horizons and zooms in on more granular low-voltage areas, where most PV connections take place”. It should be remembered that European electricity grids were originally designed for centralised power generation.
More recently, at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance summit in London, the Chairman of Iberdrola, Sánchez Galán, said that “for every Euro invested in renewable energies, a Euro should be invested in electricity grids” and “that the increased investment in electricity grids that will make the energy transition possible requires a regulatory framework based on foreseeability, stability and attractive profitability”. The latter should not be ignored.
The key role of storage
Another clear example of complementarity is storage capable of allowing maximum use of solar and wind power on a continuous basis, increasing consumption flexibility and preventing dumps from both large-scale farms and self-supply systems. This would contribute to increased savings and boost the sustainability of renewable energy by ensuring that nothing is wasted due to a lack of flexibility in the system.
Sources in the sector estimate that 13-15% of the renewable energy in our country is lost, which is no small figure.
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360° vision
Many more examples could be listed here and they all convey the same message that action should always be taken from a 360º perspective, visualising how certain technologies interact with others for joint progress towards Net Zero, while working in a coordinated fashion and in parallel.
En Amara NZero upholds that vision and is therefore focused on accompanying our clients on all their energy transition projects by offering services in the fields of renewable energy, electrification, digitalisation, electric mobility, energy efficiency and telecommunications.