Trillions needed to save Europe’s power grid
Trillions of dollars in investment are needed to modernise Europe’s outdated power grid, avoid blackouts like Spain's, and support rising renewable and electricity demand.
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Europe’s outdated electricity grid and limited energy storage are posing serious risks to power reliability as demand surges and renewable energy use accelerates. Recent blackouts in Spain and Portugal, which was the worst in years, highlight the urgency of modernising the grid, experts say.
“The blackout was a wake-up call,” said Kristina Ruby, secretary general at Eurelectric. Europe’s aging grid infrastructure, much of it over 40 years old, cannot keep pace with the rising share of wind, solar, and electric vehicle demand. Many parts of the network also lack sufficient cybersecurity and interconnection.
While renewable energy investment has nearly doubled since 2010, grid investment has stagnated around $300 B annually. The International Energy Agency estimates this needs to exceed $600 B yearly by 2030 to prevent widespread outages. The EU Commission believes $2 – 2.3 T is needed by 2050.
Spain, which now gets 56 % of its electricity from renewables, plans to close all nuclear plants by 2035. Yet, it has only 5 % interconnection capacity with grids outside the Iberian Peninsula. A new Bay of Biscay link to France aims to double this.
Storage remains a key gap. Europe has just 10.8 GW of battery capacity, far below the 200 GW needed by 2030. Ireland has installed the world’s largest flywheel, while the UK has added 5 GW in batteries post-2019 blackout.
Experts warn that without urgent upgrades and back-up capacity, Europe’s clean energy transition could falter under the strain of its fragile grid.
Source: Reuters
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