European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the World Economic Fourm on Tuesday that a modernised EU supergrid would be at the heart of an upcoming plan to bring down power prices.
A « new plan that we will present in February » aimed at reducing energy prices will « remove any remaining barriers to our Energy Union, » von der Leyen told the Davos summit, stressing the need to « better connect our clean and low-carbon energy systems. »
« Our competitiveness depends on getting back to low and stable energy prices. »
The Commission’s ‘Action Plan on Affordable energy’ is slated for 26 February, and von der Leyen has charged her Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen with updating the governance rules which set out how EU countries collectively manage the bloc’s power grid.
Europe must « mobilise more private capital to modernise our electricity grids and storage infrastructure. »
Boosting the cable links between EU countries has long been a priority for Brussels.
By 2030, EU countries should be able to receive 15% of their hourly power demand from their neighbours, based on a 2013 study commissioned by the Commission that finds that a fully integrated European grid could save €12 to €40 billion annually.
Von der Leyen wants to conclude the drawn-out project. « It is time to complete our Union also on energy, so that clean power can run freely across our continent, and bring prices down for all Europeans, » she said.
Last year, EU countries committed to the same vision that Belgium’s Energy Minister Tinne van der Straeten called the « EU Supergrid. »
Also read: Que s’est il passé pendant la Commission Von der Leyen I (mandature 2019-2024) ?
EU supergrid at core of von der Leyen’s cheap energy plan – Euractiv