Earlier this month, ten companies officially announced an initiative, ‘Friends of the Supergrid’ (FOSG), set up to speed the development of a pan-European offshore supergrid. WindEnergyUpdate talks to Mainstream Renewable Power’s CEO Dr. Eddie O’Connor to learn how soon the vision could transition to reality.

By Rikki Stancich in Paris

As offshore supergrid initiatives go, the FOSG looks promising. The founding companies form a smart combination that can deliver the high voltage direct current (HVDC) infrastructure and related technology, as well as develop, install and operate that infrastructure.

As Mainstream Renewable Power’s CEO Dr. Eddie O’Connor puts it: “We’ve got the whole supply chain in place.” Now the only things standing between Europe and a common electricity market are financial commitment and political will.

When you consider that the companies sitting around the table include 3E, AREVA T&D, DEME Blue Energy, Elia, Hochtief Construction AG, Mainstream Renewable Power, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Prysmian Cables & Systems, Siemens and Visser & Smit Marine Contracting, the financial ambition appears within reach.

The latter, namely resolution on how a Pan-European grid might be governed and regulated, remains elusive. But as O’Conner points out, “Ambition needs to be set high enough to achieve what is necessary.”

WindEnergyUpdate’s Rikki Stancich speaks to Dr. Eddie O’Connor about why Europe can no longer afford to stall on the development of an offshore supergrid and what challenges must be surmounted if it is to succeed.

Mainstream Renewable Power is a renewable energy developer headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Launched in 2008, the company has projects in the pipeline in South America, North America, South Africa and Europe.

WindEnergyUpdate:  How does the FOSG compliment the political North Sea offshore grid initiative declaration signed last year? Will the FOSG effectively
action what was envisaged in the declaration?

Dr. Eddie O’Connor: The FOSG is way ahead of the North Sea offshore grid initiative that has so far been signed by 10 countries. In fact, we first launched the idea in 2002 and had originally intended to launch the initiative last October.

The FOSG was founded on the belief that there needs to be a new way of taking electricity from a source where it is available in abundance to where the demand lies.

For Europe, there is abundant solar energy in southern Europe and in the Sahara, and there is an abundant wind resource in Northern Europe. When it comes to wind, there is only so much you can do on land, and the land option is running out on us, given that most of the potential land-based wind capacity will have been developed by 2020.

If we are to truly get away from being fossil fuel-dependent, we do not have that many options. One of the key options is offshore wind and developing a supergrid is the only way that the wind capacity can be harnessed to its full potential.

The FOSG came together to promote the concept of a supergrid profoundly. We have assembled the supply chain, providing the consulting engineers, the manufacturers of the HVDC equipment, the cable manufacturers, and so on.

We intend to advise the governments as to how the supergrid can be rolled out as a single grid, operating under a single owner, responding to a single regulator, and operating under a single grid code.

If offshore wind is to take off, the supergrid needs to be in place.

WindEnergyUpdate: Has any time-line been established with regard to getting the proposed super grid up and running? 

Dr. Eddie O’Connor: Within the next three years, we should decide who owns the supergrid and we should cost out the model.

This has never been done before, so we will need to find our way through the maze of who owns and governs the grid, who oversees regulation, how the finance is raised, what the rate of return will be an so on. This should take two-three years.

Once you have worked out how to build it in theory, it should be very straightforward to put into practice. It should only take a further year or two.

WindEnergyUpdate: So it should coincide with some of the Round 3 projects coming online?

Dr. Eddie O’Connor: Round 3 can’t happen without it. But the technology isn’t the stumbling block; it is the political will to do it.

WindEnergyUpdate: Along with the experience, expertise and equipment it brings to the table, will the FOSG also bring finance; or will it seek external funding?

Dr. Eddie O’Connor: Finance will not be difficult to find – we have already estimated the budget that will be needed to establish the FOSG not-for-profit entity, which will be launched this week in Brussels.

We are actively seeking a CEO and the headquarters in Brussels should be established in a couple of months.

WindEnergyUpdate: In the post-installation scenario, who would own and manage the supergrid?  

Dr. Eddie O’Connor: Initially, I would have said that the TSOs would have come along and jointly owned it. 

But surely it should be the guys that have taken the risk – the companies carrying out the in-depth studies and bringing the finance to the table.

How is the supergrid likely to get deployed quickest? Who will likely show the biggest enthusiasm?

If I were Europe, and asked who should own it, would I say the TSOs? Are they interested? Or are they waiting in the wings for somebody else to step forward and do it?

The fact is, the private sector has taken the initiative on this and the private sector has repeatedly demonstrated that it is capable of and adaptable at rising to the challenge.

WindEnergyUpdate: What political issues might arise from a shared grid, in terms of ownership and energy export-import?

Dr. Eddie O’Connor: Effectively, a supergrid would change the way electricity is traded throughout Europe. There would no longer be lots of single trading entities; there would be a single European market for electricity.

While the EU exists to open up markets, it has so far been unsuccessful in opening up the electricity sector to international trade and competition.

Elia, the Belgian TSO is active in the European Network of Transmission System Operators (ENTSO-E) and we are engaged in dialogue with all these folk to try to minimise the stress impact of this proposed change.

There are 40 transmission systems operators in Europe, some of which are already working together. Elia, National Grid and RTE have set up an entity called Coreso, which aims to measure and monitor the flow of electricity across North Europe, which mimics a supergrid.

The question Europe needs to be asking itself is: How is it going to compete with rising global energy demand?

What do we think of Mr Putin being in a position to turn off the gas – and do we even want to be reliant on natural gas, which may be cleaner than other fossil fuels, but still produces 400 grams of CO2 per unit of electricity. And how do we compete with China’s growing demand for energy?

Without a supergrid, Europe would not be able to meet its CO2 reduction targets, nor would it have any kind of energy security.

When you consider that the cost of oil has fluctuated from US$60, up to US$150, then down to US$30 and back up to US$80+ in the last couple of years, how do countries cope with such price variability in a basic commodity that is necessary for survival?

A supergrid is one of the necessary steps that will need to be taken to ensure that we, as people, can survive. As such, we should be moving on this as quickly as we can.

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Rikki Stancich: rstancich@gmail.com