Europacable – Europacable at the heart of EU grids debate

September 7, 2023
EUROPACABLE

Today, Europacable attended the first High-Level Electricity Grids Forum organised under the patronage of the European Commission. 

 

The event brought together more than 250 participants including CEOs from European TSOs, industry stakeholders as well as EU Member States and Institutions.

Marcello Del Brenna, chairman of the Europacable Energy Infrastructure Team, participated in the Session 3 on “People & Procurement” where he delivered the following messages:

  • – “Let’s make investments for cable manufacturers viable to ensure sufficient European production capacity to meet the demand for 2030 and beyond and secure fair and level market conditions”;
  • – “Let’s secure European technology leadership and drive cutting edge innovation”;
  • – “Let’s ensure that raw materials critical for the cable industry remain available: Aluminium should be included in the Critical Raw Materials Act; Aluminium power cables need to be recognised under the Carbon Boarder Adjustment Mechanism; and Lead metal shall not to be authorised under REACH”.

     

Mr. Battista and Mr. Westerlind represented Europacable at the invitation-only dinner hosted by EU Commissioner for Energy Ms. Kadri Simson on the eve of the event.

Prior to that, Commissioner Simson had published her views on the strong need for grids built out and the role that the European cable industry should assume in an article in the Financial Times. 

SourceEUROPACABLE

EMR Analysis

More information on Europacable: https://europacable.eu + Europacable is the voice of Europe’s leading wire and cable producers. High-quality, sustainable power and telecommunication cables, produced by our members in Europe, empower electrification and digitalization of our societies. Founded in 1991, Europacable represents the largest cable makers in the world providing global technology leadership, as well as highly specialized small and medium sized businesses from across Europe.

With our future being ever more electrified and digitalised, cable technology will be the core backbone of Europe’s energy and telecommunication infrastructures. Sustainable, low-carbon manufacturing and high-performance cables are essential to achieve Europe’s climate neutrality objectives by 2050. Europacable is committed to the principles of free enterprise and fair trade. Our members employ over 80.000 people of which more than 50% in Europe, generating a worldwide turnover over € 70 billion in 2021.

Europacable is a member of EuroFSA, FEEDS, Orgalim, RGI, WindEurope and a partner of CENELEC and EUEW.

More information on Marcello Del Brenna (Chairman, Europacable Energy Infrastructure Team + CEO Prysmian UK, Prysmian Group): See the full profile on EMR Executive Services

More information on Christopher Guérin (President, Europacable + CEO, Nexans): See the full profile on EMR Executive Services 

More information on The European Union: https://european-union.europa.eu/index_en + The European Union’s institutional set-up is unique and its decision-making system is constantly evolving. The 7 European institutions, 7 EU bodies and over 30 decentralised agencies are spread across the EU. They work together to address the common interests of the EU and European people. 

In terms of administration, there are a further 20 EU agencies and organisations which carry out specific legal functions and 4 interinstitutional services which support the institutions.

All of these establishments have specific roles – from developing EU laws and policy-making to implementing policies and working on specialist areas, such as health, medicine, transport and the environment.

There are 4 main decision-making institutions which lead the EU’s administration. These institutions collectively provide the EU with policy direction and play different roles in the law-making process: 

  • the European Parliament (Brussels/Strasbourg/Luxembourg)
  • the European Council (Brussels)
  • the Council of the European Union (Brussels/Luxembourg)
  • the European Commission (Brussels/Luxembourg/Representations across the EU)

Their work is complemented by other institutions and bodies, which include:

  • the Court of Justice of the European Union (Luxembourg)
  • the European Central Bank (Frankfurt)
  • the European Court of Auditors (Luxembourg)

The EU institutions and bodies cooperate extensively with the network of EU agencies and organisations across the European Union. The primary function of these bodies and agencies is to translate policies into realities on the ground.

Around 60,000 EU civil servants and other staff serve the 450 million Europeans (and countless others around the world).

Currently, 27 countries are part of the EU: https://european-union.europa.eu/principles-countries-history/country-profiles_en 

More information on The European Commission: https://ec.europa.eu/info/index_en + The Commission helps to shape the EU’s overall strategy, proposes new EU laws and policies, monitors their implementation and manages the EU budget. It also plays a significant role in supporting international development and delivering aid.

The Commission is steered by a group of 27 Commissioners, known as ‘the college’. Together they take decisions on the Commission’s political and strategic direction.

A new college of Commissioners is appointed every 5 years.

The Commission is organised into policy departments, known as Directorates-General (DGs), which are responsible for different policy areas. DGs develop, implement and manage EU policy, law, and funding programmes. In addition, service departments deal with particular administrative issues. Executive agencies manage programmes set up by the Commission.

Principal roles in law: The Commission proposes and implements laws which are in keeping with the objectives of the EU treaties. It encourages input from business and citizens in the law-making process and ensures laws are correctly implemented, evaluated and updated when needed.

The European Commission is the EU’s politically independent executive arm. It is alone responsible for drawing up proposals for new European legislation, and it implements the decisions of the European Parliament and the Council of the EU.

More information on Ursula von der Leyen (President, The European Commission): https://ec.europa.eu/commission/commissioners/2019-2024/president_en + https://www.linkedin.com/in/ursula-von-der-leyen/ 

More information on Kadri Simson (European Commissioner for Energy, The European Commission): https://commissioners.ec.europa.eu/kadri-simson_en 

More information on the ECRMA (European Critical Raw Materials Act): https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/publications/european-critical-raw-materials-act_en + Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework for ensuring a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials and amending Regulations (EU) 168/2013, (EU) 2018/858, 2018/1724 and (EU) 2019/102.

The Critical Raw Materials Act was announced by President von der Leyen during her 2022 State of the Union speech, where she called to address the EU’s dependency on imported critical raw materials by diversifying and securing a domestic and sustainable supply of critical raw materials.

More information on REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) Regulation: https://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/reach/reach_en.htm + REACH  (EC 1907/2006) aims to improve the protection of human health and the environment through the better and earlier identification of the intrinsic properties of chemical substances. This is done by the four processes of REACH, namely the registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals. REACH also aims to enhance innovation and competitiveness of the EU chemicals industry.

REACH Regulation places responsibility on industry to manage the risks from chemicals and to provide safety information on the substances.  Manufacturers and importers are required to gather information on the properties of their chemical substances, which will allow their safe handling, and to register the information in a central database in the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in Helsinki. The Agency is the central point in the REACH system: it manages the databases necessary to operate the system, co-ordinates the in-depth evaluation of suspicious chemicals and is building up a public database in which consumers and professionals can find hazard information.

 

More information on NKT: See the full profile on EMR Executive Services

More information on Claes Westerlind (President and Chief Executive Officer, NKT): See the full profile on EMR Executive Services

 

More information on Prysmian: See the full profile on EMR Executive Services

More information on Valerio Battista (Group Chief Executive Officer, Prysmian Group until the 2024 Annual General Meeting (April)): See the full profile on EMR Executive Services

More information on Massimo Battaini (Group Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director, Prysmian Group + Proposed Candidate as CEO at the 2024 Annual General Meeting (April)): See the full profile on EMR Executive Services

 

More information on The Financial Times (part of Nikkei Inc.): https://www.ft.com + The Financial Times is one of the world’s leading news organisations, recognised internationally for its authority, integrity and accuracy.

The FT Group employs more than 2300 people worldwide, including 700 journalists in 40 countries. It includes the Financial Times, FT Specialist, and a number of services and joint ventures.

More information on John Ridding (Chief Executive Officer, the Financial Times Group): https://aboutus.ft.com/company/leadership + https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnridding/ 

 

 

 

EMR Additional Notes: 

  • Grid, Microgrids and DERs:
    • The power grid is a network for delivering electricity to consumers. The power grid includes generator stations, transmission lines and towers, and individual consumer distribution lines.
    • The grid constantly balances the supply and demand for the energy that powers everything from industry to household appliances.
    • Electric grids perform three major functions: power generation, transmission, and distribution.
    • A microgrid is a small-scale power grid that can operate independently or collaboratively with other small power grids. The practice of using microgrids is known as distributed, dispersed, decentralized, district or embedded energy production.
    • Smart Grid is any electrical grid + IT at all levels . Micro Grid is a group of interconnected loads and DERs (Distributed energy resources) within a clearly defined electrical and geographical boundaries witch acts as a single controllable entity with respect to the main grid.
    • Distributed energy resources (DERs) are small-scale electricity supply (typically in the range of 3 kW to 50 MW) or demand resources that are interconnected to the electric grid. They are power generation resources and are usually located close to load centers, and can be used individually or in aggregate to provide value to the grid.
    • Common examples of DERs include rooftop solar PV units, natural gas turbines, microturbines, wind turbines, biomass generators, fuel cells, tri-generation units, battery storage, electric vehicles (EV) and EV chargers, and demand response applications.
    • Distributed energy resources management systems (DERMS) are platforms which helps mostly distribution system operators (DSO) manage their grids that are mainly based on distributed energy resources (DER).
    • DERMS are used by utilities and other energy companies to aggregate a large energy load for participation in the demand response market. DERMS can be defined in many ways, depending on the use case and underlying energy asset.

 

  • Transmission System Operator (TSO): 
    • A Transmission System Operator (TSO) is an entity entrusted with transporting energy in the form of natural gas or electrical power on a national or regional level, using fixed infrastructure. The term is defined by the European Commission.