IEA’s Fatih Birol says grid limbo of renewables is ‘economically criminal’

The executive director of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, today said it is “economically criminal” that so many renewable energy projects are stuck in limbo because of grid limitations.

Speaking at the opening of International Energy Week in London, Birol said that grids were “a major bottleneck to the age of electricity”.

He said that globally there were 1600GW of renewable energy projects waiting to be connected to the grid: “They are in a queue – this is an economically criminal story.”

The problem, he explained, was most acute in Europe, however he praised the work of UK regulators who have taken steps of accelerate permitting of network and clean energy projects.

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Birol said a similar problem of being stuck in the energy transition ‘waiting room’ was affecting supply chains: “If you want to buy a cable you have to wait four years: if you want a transformer, it’s five years.”

He called on policymakers and regulators to tackle these bottlenecks while at the same time taking a technology-agnostic, systems-approach to energy pricing: “The price of electricity is so important for the competitiveness of any economy and it is of crucial importance that government’s have the right system in place – if you are not objective you may come up with the wrong cure.”

Birol has long taken a view that many governments made a critical mistake in phasing out nuclear from their energy mix, however today he said the resurgence of nuclear was alive and set to peak in 2030.

He said there were currently 70GW of nuclear plants under construction – “the highest amount in the last three decades” – and added that the IEA estimated that SMR technologies would become commercial around 2030.

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A particular driver of the appetite of SMRs, he said, was the sky-rocketing energy use of data centres and their need for reliable power.

Birol was also asked for his opinion on fusion technologies. With a smile he said: “When I was at university, I was told that nuclear fusion was ‘coming soon’ – I still think it is ‘coming soon’.”

Originally published on powerengineeringint.com