Recording of Wednesday, May 07, 2025 | The smarter E Europe Conferences 2025 | Conference Program | Language: English | Duration: 10:12 .

Global Electricity Demand to Surge 80% by 2040, Highlighting Urgent Need for Enhanced Grid Investments and Integrated Planning

The speaker addresses the evolving electricity demand and challenges faced by power systems, emphasizing two main points: rising global electricity demand and the role of transmission networks. According to IEA's scenarios, a significant 80% increase in global electricity demand is anticipated by 2040 due to various economic factors. Currently, around 7-8% of the world lacks adequate access to electricity, highlighting its importance for growth and prosperity. Electrification serves as an efficient decarbonization method across energy sectors. GE Vernova contributes significantly with technologies supporting one-fourth of global generation but faces reliability challenges; achieving high system reliability requires minimizing interruptions annually—down from hours per year to seconds at advanced levels like "six nines." Affordability issues persist globally, particularly in Europe where prices are notably higher than other major economies affecting competitiveness. The need for integrated planning between renewable investments (which have increased substantially) and grid infrastructure (lagging behind) is stressed as crucial for successful energy transitions—a gap that GE aims to address through their upcoming PlanOS initiative.

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Speaker

Dr. Anser A. Shakoor
Executive Leader
GE Vernova
United Kingdom

Talk of session: Tackling Transmission and High-Capacity Connection Challenges

Grid planners face the complex challenge of transmitting energy from emerging renewable generation hubs to demand centers, while also addressing the growing need for high-capacity connections for storage plants, electrolyzers, and data centers. These developments present significant challenges for grid planners, grid operators, service providers and project developers. This session will explore the technical, regulatory, and logistical hurdles involved in managing these demands and examine innovative solutions to ensure reliable, efficient grid integration and future-proof energy systems. It also discusses the importance of system planning and examines how different stakeholders can contribute to optimization efforts that enable better prioritization of investments and the achievement of European goals.

Further Talks of this session:

Welcome and Introduction

Speaker

Dr. Andrzej Ceglarz
Director Energy Systems
Renewables Grid Initiative
Germany

Video is not available.

Grid Planning Optimization: How to Save Resources and Deliver on Targets

Speaker

Dr. Alexandre Oudalov
Manager Power Systems of the Future
Hitachi Energy Germany AG
Germany

To Talk

The Value of BESS as a Transmission Asset (SATA) for the Power System

Speaker

Dr. Sankara Subramanian
Utility Market Leader
Saft Batteries
France

To Talk

Evaluation of the Economic Surplus Generated by the European Balancing Platforms

Speaker

Dr. Dominik Schlipf
Team Manager System Balance
TransnetBW GmbH
Germany

To Talk

Advantages and Challenges of Balancing Power Cooperation With a Focus on Fcr Cooperation

Speaker

Matthias Kuring
Senior Expert Balancing Concepts
50Hertz Transmission
Germany

To Talk

Panel Discussion

Speaker

To Talk

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