EERA JP on Smart Grids is organizing a workshop titled "The crucial role of Smart Grids for the success of the Clean Energy Transition" that will take place at ENLIT, within the Grid Innovation Hub Programme, on 24th October 2024 from 11.00 to 12.30.

What is about?

The European electricity grid is one of the most interconnected and resilient in the world, delivering a stable and high-quality energy supply to approximately 600 million consumers on a daily basis. This is the result of quality control and strict requirements from EU operators and the supportive EU regulatory framework, which includes rules on cross-border energy infrastructure and the internal electricity market. With the integration of EU markets, the ongoing energy transition and the emergence of clean low carbon technologies, there is the need to re-design the interconnected grid to optimally take care of the paradigm change of distributed vs central. This subtle but important change brings in focus the active consumers with energy communities being developed with emphasis shifted to highly distributed generation and storage facilities.

Electricity consumption is expected to increase by around 60% by 2030, moreover, to meet renewable energy target, EU wind and solar power capacity will need to increase from 400 GW in 2022 to at least 1,000 GW by 2030, including a major increase in offshore renewables to 317 GW by 2050. The required rapid expansion and modernisation of electricity grids will also allow to meet growing demand for clean mobility, heating and cooling, industrial electrification and the start of green hydrogen production.

In this context, and recognising the crucial role of R&I in supporting the energy transition, the European energy research community represented in the EERA JP Smart Grids, has chosen to focus its attention this year on producing a White Paper on the crucial role of Smart Grids for the success of the clean energy transition, a policy-oriented document that will provide valuable guidance and insights for policy makers and related stakeholders.

Beyond being the perfect opportunity to present the first findings of this ongoing work, the workshop will welcome high-profile speakers in panel discussions with international organisations, policymakers and professionals in the field of smart grids. It will also provide an opportunity to reflect from different angles on the next steps that need to be taken to address the main challenges in adapting, expanding, digitalising and optimally using the EU electricity grids for facilitating energy transition.