The
European Union will need EUR1 trillion to prop up its electricity networks and
generation capacity by 2030 and another EUR150 billion for its gas networks, if
it wants to increase energy security and improve competitiveness, the European
Commission estimated Thursday.
"The commission is concerned that Europe's
energy networks are no longer up to the task of providing secure energy supply
in the foreseeable future," the E.U. executive body said in a statement
presenting a blueprint paper.
The paper will be discussed by interested parties for four months.
The paper is part of a commission strategy to increase E.U. energy security,
competitiveness in its energy market and cut pollution by integrating national
electricity networks and gas grids into a European supergrid, thus creating a
broader market and including renewable energy sources.
Integrating the Baltic countries in the E.U. grids, developing interconnections
within the North African countries and bringing in gas from the Caspian
region are some of the priorities the commission outlined.