At their inaugural Summit on 25 and 26 February in Edinburgh, the CEOs of the Friends of the Supergrid (FOSG), a group of companies that includes GE, Alstom, ABB and National Grid, made a new policy statement under the banner 'The Declaration of Edinburgh' which calls for "clear goals for interconnection and the delivery of an internal electricity market" to drive competitiveness, reduce cost and engender economic growth and demands that they become the priority of the next EU Institutions. "We need a network not a patchwork."
The CEOs took the opportunity to discuss the case for Supergrid, and the need for clear EU goals for interconnection and infrastructure development, with Alex Salmond, First Minister of Scotland, the UK's deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, and with representatives of the Italian presidency of the EU.
Speaking at the Summit, Marcello del Brenna, chairman of FOSG said:
“The EU faces a global challenge to increase its competitiveness and to compete with the growing economies of China and the USA. To deliver cheaper energy for European consumers and industry we need a single electricity market with very much more interconnection.
"Very large amounts of clean, low carbon electricity can be generated across Europe and shipped to demand centres in an internal market, so that German consumers can use electricity generated from North Sea marine renewables, Iberian solar or Scandinavian hydro.
"This approach - using a Supergrid as the backbone - will enhance competitiveness, drive down costs and create growth. The same cannot be said for the current policies of many Member States, to insulate themselves from a single market, where their consumers have to pay artificially high prices for what should be a common European good.
“Here in Edinburgh we are calling on EU Heads of Government to follow the lead of the Scottish and UK governments and put interconnection at the heart of their policy making. We need clear goals for interconnection and infrastructure development as part of the 2030 energy and climate package, so that Europe can realise the internal energy market, reduce its electricity prices and optimise its generation mix in order to improve efficiency, exploit indigenous resources and reach its decarbonisation objectives."
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