DANIEL DOBBENI,

President, European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity¹(ENTSO-E).

Electricity is such a success that we treat it like any other readily available resource, such as air or water. But we shouldn’t forget that it requires heavy investment and major infrastructure; once those decisions have been made, we’re committed for thirty to fifty years.

Given the mounting climate change concerns, it’s not an easy task to reconcile consumer expectations with the uncertainties inherent in energy choices which, in the end, are made by politicians. At the same time, we have to make sure electricity transmission and distribution remain both reliable and sustainable. Adding to our difficulties as operators is the fact that we do not control electricity production. We have to develop more efficient transmission systems even though we do not know where the future hubs of production and consumption will be located, which will be determined by future energy choices. We therefore hope that politicians will decide quickly in favor of building sufficiently flexible and even oversized infrastructure to allow for the uncertainties of the future energy mix, thus enabling us to meet the expectations of various stakeholders, even if local populations are reluctant to accept this idea. This is the only way we will be able to meet the “three times twenty” target set by the European Commission². By bringing European transmission system operators together, the idea is also to provide better information to stakeholders – power generators, traders, power exchanges and consumers – and to listen to them more so that society as a whole can gain a better understanding of the complexity of power supply, especially its unpredictability, which has risen considerably in recent years.

1. Created in late 2008, ENTSO-E now counts 42 electricity transmission system operators from 34 European countries. It officially replaced the six previous associations on July 1, 2009.

2. A 20% reduction in greenhouse gases, a 20% share for renewable energies, and a 20% improvement in energy efficiency.