Eurelectric chief: Four ‘I’s for the incoming EU European Commission

In an exclusive interview during Enlit Europe, Kristian Ruby of Eurelectric discusses the key priorities the incoming European Commission needs to focus on.

Ruby, Secretary General of the association for Europe’s electricity industry, explains that Eurelectric believes these priorities revolve around four ‘I’s.

The four ‘I’s

“The first is about implementation. We have spent more than five years negotiating market reforms, green policies for transport, for industry, for heating and so on. It’s really crucial that we now actually start doing what we have been putting in writing.

“The second is about infrastructure,” says Ruby, referring to the critical need for energy infrastructure to modernise and keep up with the inevitable spike in power demand that Europe needs to see.

“It is crucial for us to modernise the infrastructure on which we’re going to build this more electrified economy. A lot of the infrastructure we have was built in the last century and if we want that infrastructure to be the backbone of the European economy in the 21st century we really need to modernise and make it fit for purpose.”

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The third priority, says Ruby, is that of the business case and keeping up investments despite a forecast “plateau.”

“We have an issue with more volatility in the market and I believe that we’re going to see a plateauing of renewable investments unless we get a different situation in the power market – more demand for electricity as the most import piece.

“And the last is for industry.

“Industrial electrification is a very, very interesting sweet spot that would connect our decarbonisation electrification strategy with the big challenge of Europe today, which is our lagging industrial competitiveness.

“Accelerating the switch from fossil fuels to clean electricity in industry is something that would help the business case for new renewables, that would help the competitiveness of our industries and, ultimately, help society in our efforts to decarbonise.”

Watch the full interview for more details on Eurelectric's message to the incoming European Commission, and to learn more about the key findings of the Power Barometer and the electrification goals for Europe.