Interview with Antonella Battaglini, Executive Director of the Renewables-Grid-Initiative (RGI)

1. Interview with Antonella Battaglini, Executive Director of the Renewables-Grid-Initiative
(RGI)
1. Why is the role of grids so important in Europe for the development of
renewable energy sources?
We believe that in order to realize the energy transformation that is needed to combat climate
change and to meet the energy security target we need to build a grid in Europe that is
capable of integrating renewable energy sources from large-scale generation and distributed
generation. Various Roadmaps 2050 show that the complete decarbonisation of the
European power sector, even in a 100% renewable electricity scenario, is economically and
technically feasible, but is subject to urgent and substantive increase in transmission
capacity.
2. In public debates, fully implementing legislation on environment and nature
conservation and the need for a timely expansion of the electricity grid are often
described as contradictory. How can they be reconciled?
Under the guidance of RGI, a coalition of Europe’s 29 largest environmental NGOs and grid
operators pledged to work in partnership to ensure that the goals of grid modernisation and
environmental protection can be achieved side by side. The European Grid Declaration on
Electricity Network Development and Nature Conservation in Europe (EGD) was publicly
signed in Brussels and handed over to EU Energy Commissioner Oettinger on 10 November
2011. The document provides a set of guiding principles to build up the necessary grid with
full respect of environmental regulations.
3. Public acceptance makes the construction of these new infrastructures difficult.
What is your opinion? What could help?
The huge task of the energy transformation can only be achieved if a lot of actors across
sectors join forces and come together in developing narratives and in describing what the
future may look like. I believe that it is very risky not to consider how important it is to get
people on board. It is not possible to move from what we have today to a vision of the future if
we are not capable of describing the future, explaining it and bringing most of the people
along with us. Recently there has been a great focus on public opposition towards grid
infrastructure. I would like to argue with the fact that TSOs do not have a lot of experience in
building new grids. Most of the grids we have today have been built several decades ago.
Since then lots has changed and the approaches and mentality we used in the past are no
longer good nor sufficient. Today we need to learn how to get people, our stakeholders
involved in shaping processes and decisions. RGI provides a platform that enables exchange
of experience and learning on what has worked or what can be done better. Our project on
best practices that we have pursued in the course of 2012 contributes to this knowledge
exchange. Results will be presented at the European Grid Conference in Brussels in
November.
4. RGI organizes a workshop on the 3rd of October. What are the main
expectations of this European workshop?
The workshop “How can Grids protect and enhance the Environment?” is the most recent one
in a series of workshops that RGI has organised in the last years. They reflect RGI’s style of
work since they bring together experts from different fields of society – be it TSOs, NGOs,
politics, science, or industry – to discuss all aspects related to building the European grid that
is necessary for the full integration of electricity produced from renewable energy sources. In
Paris, we will discuss good examples of how the principles set out in the EGD have been or
should be implemented on the ground. This will be a big step forward in making the document
alive and actively promoting joint solutions of all involved stakeholders.