However, delegates at the conference organised by the Friends of the Supergrid heard that building a linked offshore transmission network would be neither cheap nor easy.
“Just because everybody is convinced of the utility of the supergrid, this does not mean that it is easy to put in place”, said Johan Vande Lanotte, Belgian vice prime minister and minister for the economy, consumer affairs and the North Sea.
As an example, he explained how costly it will be for his country to build the planned domestic Thornton Bank wind farm and associated infrastructure in the North Sea. To offset the €900 million investment costs, he said, Belgian consumers would have to pay higher bills to fund a 200 MW network of 30 wind turbines. “We will work 10 to 15 years with a lot of energy and conviction to make it happen”, said Vande Lanotte.
However Eddie O’Connor, CEO of Mainstream Renewable Power said the costs were relative. “We are spending about €200 billion annually for fossil fuels in Europe,” he said. “With this money you can build one gigantic supergrid that stays there.”
By Carmen Paun