The European Supergrid and the Blue Growth Strategy

European Maritime Day Conference - Malta

21-22 May, 2013

Ana Aguado Cornago

CEO, Friends of the Supergrid

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The Friends of the Supergrid

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The Friends of the Supergrid

Why the Supergrid?

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Offshore wind

Solar

Hydro

• Carbon neutral Europe by 2050

• Single European electricity market

• Secure and sustainable supply

• Transformed energy system

• Innovative technology to use and export

• Skilled employment opportunities

Timetable – Phase 0 and Phase 1

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Phase 0 – 2015-2020

Phase 1 – 2020+

Blue Growth in Europe and Supergrid

● Influence of the EU sea planning law on Supergrid:

● Supergrid requires a stable community-wide regulatory framework backed-up by strong political support.

● The Supergrid requires a top-down approach to be added to the present national planning methodologies.

● FOSG supports a European Integrated Sea information System (ISIS).

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OffshoreGrid Study: Hub connections would save €14 billion and additional meshed connections costs of €5-8 bn would bring benefits of €16-21bn

Windmolenparken op zee

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Supply chain European industry readiness

The European cable manufacturing industry continues to invest to increase capacity : expected capacity to increase from 800 km to 2000 km yearly by 2015.

To meet the long term demand (>2020), further investments in cable production facilities may be needed.

The installation capacities for High Voltage power cables available today is sufficient in NW Europe up to 2015 -2020.

To meet market developments beyond 2020, new Cable laying vessels with a typical turnaround time for construction of 2-3 years may be required.

Larger Alternate and Direct Current substations do not come with big supply chain constraints.

Smart Resource Project Planning should be adopted by the market !

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HV Cable Lay Vessels

Skagerrak Guilio Verne

Stemat Spirit with plough Team Oman

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Offshore AC Substations – Round 1 & 2

Belwind - Courtesy CGSheringham Shoal -Courtesy SHL

Proven technology !

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Employment opportunities

● The total number of employment which is directly related to Supergrid is difficult to quantify.

● But the development of Supergrid in combination with RES opens large scale employment opportunities in Europe.

● According to EWEA reports, by 2030 around 480.000 jobs can be created. Around 300.000 new jobs will be engaged in the Offshore sector which include Supergrid activities.

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R&D, Education, Training

● There is a strong recognition in the market that Renewables is a new industry which also require its own R&D, education requirements including a significant amount of HSE training of all labour in order to work under harsh offshore environments.

● Countries around the North Sea are introducing R&D centres and education both at universities and technical institutions covering technique but also logistics

● FOSG is actively involved in supporting these institutions by exchanging knowledge and information.

No Transition without Transmission

www.friendsofthesupergrid.eu

Ana Aguado Cornago