During the last decade, renewable energy generation has increased by leaps and bounds, to the point that lto installation of wind turbines and solar panels has doubled since 2010. This acceleration is the response to the increasing demand for electricity consumption, which is expected to increase increasingly by electrifying uses that previously depended on fossil energies.
These data are positive and are the way to follow to achieve energy transition, but they are not enough. For the green energy generated in plants to reach consumption spaces – both customers and companies – a electrical network that connects them, a factor that in recent years has remained in the background with stagnant global investment. In that sense, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated the global electricity network at 80 million km in 2021, data that has practically remained the same unalterable over the years.
An obstacle to decarbonization
That the network is not expanding at the same rate – or even at the same time – as the generation and use of renewables It is a problem and an obstacle to decarbonization. “The progress we have seen in many countries on clean energy is unprecedented and is cause for optimism, but could be at risk if governments and companies they do not come together to ensure that electrical networks of the world are prepared for the new global energy economy,” warns the executive director of the IEA, Fatih Birolafter publishing a report confirming that the current annual investment in electrical networks It’s half of what you would expect.
The organization, which depends on the OECD, points out in that report that currently there are 1,500 GW (a power greater than the solar energy installed in 2022) that cannot be connected because there is not enough ‘cable’ to transport that energy. This is not only a less renewable developmentit is also a potential loss of company efficiency: Bringing clean energy closer to industries makes them more competitive – due to the reduction of energy costs – and at the same time accelerates decarbonization.
An urgent expansion in Spain
If we look, furthermore, at the privileged situation of Spain In the global panorama of renewables, it is evident that electrical networks must accompany green ones and grow at the same time. The country’s great potential for a renewable economy requires a sufficient electrical distribution network. In this sense, last week, the Government launched an urgent expansion of electrical networks throughout the country, through an investment of 931 million euros, injected by European funds into the Spanish Electricity Network (REE).
With their eyes set on the coming years, experts assure that to offer the electrical system of the future, electricity distribution networks must strengthen and digitize to absorb all the capacity available today, while building new infrastructure and expanding the number of kilometers to add future power.
Double the electrical grid by 2040
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Without electrical networks there is no energy transition. They are the key piece of the puzzle of the green transformation, the backbone of the integration of renewables in cities and industries. For this reason, the IAE has assured this December that the current electrical network must increase by 2040 if the objectives are to be met. climate goals and ensure security of supply.
Governments and countries must invest in networks today or face stagnation tomorrow.