Industrial clusters are critical to reaching net zero targets however there are financing gaps preventing these hubs from reaching their decarbonising capacity.
This was one of the key conclusions of an Enlit Europe summit session moderated by Kate Willard OBE, chair of the Thames Estuary Growth Board.
The panel, comprised of Chris Peeters, CEO of Elia Group, Roland Roesch, deputy director innovation and technology Centre at IRENA, Hans Korteweg, managing director of COGEN Europe and Sven Goethals, business development director at Tractebel Engie, focused on the important role of industrial clusters in reaching net zero targets.
According to Peeters, “clusters provide all the necessary infrastructure to make things happen”.
However, massive investment is needed to get the infrastructure in place. The key question, however, is who pays for this infrastructure to be developed?
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Said Peeters, “There is policy that allows for this [development] however we need to get over NIMBYism [not in my backyard]”. Besides NIMBYs, Peeters also suggests that governments have traditionally been afraid of sitting with stranded assets, a fear that has held them back and ultimately hindered investment in the energy transition.
Roesch highlighted that industrial clusters drive innovative technology solutions, which boost competitiveness and drive the transition forward. But high CAPEX costs are keeping this technology from scaling up.
Panellists agreed that industry is under a lot of pressure to decarbonise while continuing to operate in the context of high prices and an energy crisis. Only large-scale investment can ensure that there is sufficient renewable capacity to meet ambitious EU decarbonisation targets.
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Energy Transitions Podcast: The role of industrial clusters in accelerating net zero
“We need certainty and a stable policy framework to encourage investment,” said Korteweg.
Without EU member states being aligned on both policy and investment, industrial clusters will never reach their full potential, the panel agreed.
