Will Europe be able to achieve 100% renewables by 2050? Albert Cheung, Head of Global Analysis at Bloomberg NEF, talks to Joana Freitas, Ambassador for the Lights on Women initiative of the FSR, about the key obstacles and challenges of an energy system with high penetration of renewables. According to Albert Cheung, although solar and wind are becoming the cheapest forms of power generation, “there are a lot of obstacles and it’s a really long road to get to those sorts of high penetrations”. As 100% renewables also mean a zero-carbon power system, it will require a “huge collaborative effort between government, energy companies and the investment community”. Despite the obstacles, several European countries are already setting ambitious targets for the next decade – by 2030, Austria expects to achieve 100% of renewables in electricity consumption while UK will be coal free by 2025. Albert Cheung also notes that this change of paradigm will require “massive amounts of flexibility” as an “energy system that has 90 percent renewables in 2050 is going to operate very differently from the one that we have today”.

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In this episode, Chris Peeters, CEO of the Elia Group, shares his views with Joana Freitas, Ambassador for the Lights on Women initiative of the FSR, on what the digitalisation of the energy system really means and discusses the key challenges and consequences for different market players. In Chris Peeters’ perspective, one of the immediate uses of digital technologies will be on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of day-to-day activities. On the other hand, Chris also notes that digitalisation will enable an efficient interaction amongst the different actors of a system that will be much more decentralized and electrified. In this new context, consumers will play an increasingly important role as we will be moving to “the concept of, first of all, consumer in the centre and, secondly, around that consumer, providers of energy as a service”. Thanks to digitalisation, market players will also become much more agile in addressing consumers’ specific needs. Regarding electricity grid operators, Chris Peeters points out two lines of action for the coming years: continue investing in the infrastructure to adjust to the new system setup and “making sure that the system evolves in a way that is actually adapting to the new needs of the clients”. Throughout this transition, “all these technologies [blockchain, artificial intelligence, drones, satellite images and big data] have somewhere their place in the system”. Regarding the large investments expected to digitize networks, Chris Peeters believes that “we should really limit the regulated sector to […] a very robust, lean and mean layer, and all the other investments need to prove themselves as commercially viable.”

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In this episode, Tara Connolly, EU Climate and Energy Policy Director at Greenpeace, reflects on the real impact of energy transition on the environment, in a candid conversation with Joana Freitas, Ambassador for the Lights on Women initiative of the FSR. While there is a big drive today in Europe to switch from fossil fuels to renewable sources, is all the emphasis on power generation enough to fight climate change? According to Tara Connolly, “decarbonizing the power sector is absolutely key”, but there needs to be more focus on other sectors, like transportation and heating and cooling. Tara Connolly also notes that, for the most part, “the technologies are there, it’s about putting in place policies that will support and accelerate their deployment”. However, a world with more renewables will also probably be a world with mass deployment of lithium ion batteries and increased mining of cobalt, which raises other environmental issues. For Tara Connolly, Europe should start by making sure that “the standards in these mines are as high as possible”, but “we cannot just be replacing every single internal combustion engine in Europe with an electric vehicle”. One of the key strategies to address the climate change is “understanding and accepting that we cannot keep the same system that we have going and just replacing it”. According to Tara Connolly, “we need to significantly downsize a lot of what we are doing”.

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What impact will the energy transition have on electricity prices for consumer? Monika de Volder, Senior Economic Officer at BEUC – The European Consumers Organisation, discusses with Joana Freitas, Ambassador for the FSR Lights on Women initiative, the expected impact of increased renewables and consumer-oriented services in the retail electricity prices. Monika de Volder starts by noting that, against public expectations, electricity prices for households have been increasing over the last ten years – “We see more and more liberalization, which we would expect to result in more competition and better services and lower prices for consumers. Yet we don’t see that in every country”. In fact, renewables are very often blamed for increasing electricity prices. However, as Monika de Volder refers, renewables are the best alternative to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels. In the future, the introduction of new demand response services might allow consumers to capture the positive effect of the lower marginal cost of renewables. “Consumers will participate [in the electricity market], but it needs to be financially worth it without any trade offs for them”, Monika de Volder says. On the other hand, the digitalization of the electricity sector may also bring benefits for consumers. Monika de Volder describes it as a “game changer”, as it will lead to a much more efficient and reliable system. While the electricity system is going through a deep transformation,“energy poor or vulnerable consumers are one of the highest challenges we are facing today”.

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Why do TSOs and DSOs need to cooperate more than in the past? Viviana Vitto, Head of Market Studies and Strategic Analysis at Enel Global Infrastructure and Networks, joins Joana Freitas, Ambassador of the Lights on Women initiative of the FSR, to discuss how the energy transition is shaping the need and configuration of TSO/DSO coordination. In Viviana’s perspective, decentralized generation, electrification and electric vehicles are growing at a fast pace and, given this new context, “TSOs and DSOs have just not the need but the responsibility to cooperate in order to rethink the energy system”. In fact, several European grid operators have been participating in TSO/DSO coordination pilots, as CoordiNet and SmartNet. The Clean Energy Package also paves the way to a closer cooperation between TSOs and DSOs. One of the measures determined by this package is the creation of a DSO entity, which, in Viviana’s view, “will play an important role to implement this cooperation and identifying the needs of the future system”. Vivana also notes that regulation is one of the key enablers of TSO/DSO coordination – “[TSO/DSO coordination] cannot be fast enough without the supportive regulatory framework”. While the electricity system is evolving at a fast pace, driving TSOs and DSOs to cooperate more than in the past…we need to keep all the options open for the time being”.

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What do electricity consumers really want? In this episode, Annette Jantzen, Secretary General at the National Energy Ombudsmen Network, shares her thoughts with Joana Freitas, Ambassador for the Lights on Women initiative of the FSR, on the main needs and concerns of electricity consumers, in the changing context of the energy transition. According to Annette Jantzen, one of the key issues arising from the energy transition is the high effort that the most vulnerable consumers have to make – “The households which are making the biggest effort to fund the energy transition today are the poorest ones”. At European level, the Clean Energy Package (CEP) is the first legislative package that mentions citizens in its name – Clean Energy for all Europeans. Annette Jantzen describes the CEP as very positive when it comes to consumer rights and protections, however, also notes that there is still a long way to go in terms of putting in place all the rights established in the document. “[The lack of strong legal provisions] could create issues and maybe a loss of trust, or hinder people from actually participating in the market”, she adds. Annette Jantzen also comments on the resistance to smart meters in some European countries – “People don’t really see why they should have a smart meter. They would be less worried once they see they would get benefit out of it”. In the end of the day, what electricity consumers really want is “a reliable service at an affordable price”.

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