‘No transition without transmission’: utilities alliance announces infrastructure fund
Members of the Utilities for Net Zero Alliance are set to invest $82bn annually in grids
A high-level ministerial meeting on grids and storage was convened at COP30, stressing the investment opportunity in grid infrastructure. The Utilities for Net Zero Alliance (UNEZA), also in attendance at the meeting, announced plans to invest $1tn in energy transition investment by 2030, with a significant tilt towards transmission infrastructure.
UNEZA members are set to invest $82bn annually in grids. As part of its plans, the alliance is launching consultants on an infrastructure investment fund aimed at attracting institutional investors into UNEZA’s pipeline of transmission and storage assets.
Details of the fund’s proposed structure and investment strategy are yet to be published.
The fund is one of three proposed ‘delivery mechanisms’ through which UNEZA members will implement their investment plans. Other mechanisms include pooled procurement and reducing congestion by addressing stalled capacity.
“Last year, UNEZA members built enough new grids to stretch from Belem to New Zealand, and enough new renewables capacity to meet half the peak demand of India”, said Martin Pibworth, co-chair of UNEZA.
“This is real, meaningful progress in the energy transition that is so critical to the future of our planet, and we now look forward to delivering this next step change in delivery”, added Pibworth who was appointed chief executive at SSE, a transmission and renewable operator, in March this year.
Turning point
In the days leading up to COP30, the Brazilian Presidency had endorsed the climate finance principles developed by Green Grids Initiative. In so doing, the COP30 hosts pledged to incorporate the urgency and scale of grid investment into the action agenda at Belem.
“Demand is growing faster than grids can expand. There is no transition without transmission”, stressed Gustavo Ataíde, Brazil’s national secretary for energy transition and planning.
Speaking at the ministerial meeting, Ataíde noted that even though renewables account for 88% of Brazil’s power supply, the country faces challenges in flexibility and load integration.
The COP30 presidency endorsing the investment case for transmission and grid assets is welcome news for UNEZA. The alliance was set up at COP28 and is guided by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
“To make COP30 in Belém a turning point, we must go beyond just building more wires. We need a systemic rethink, creating secure, affordable, and reliable power systems fit for the future”, commented IRENA’s director general Francesco La Camera.
Marcus Stewart, head of secretariat at Green Grids Initiative also stressed the significance of transmission investment being discussed at COP30. “Green Grids Initiative is delighted that the COP Presidency has chosen to focus on Grids at this COP and back GGI’s Climate Finance Principles”, he said.
“Alongside the Tropical Forest Forever Facility, this is the only initiative to have received such high-level endorsement”, Stewart notes.
