The future of electricity demand
How can Europe increase electricity demand to drive decarbonisation and economic growth?
Speakers
Lukasz Kolinski
Director for Green Transition and Energy System Integration, European Commission
Marion Labatut
Director of EU Affairs, EDF
Pamela MacDougall
Head of Energy Regulation, Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Christoph Maurer
Managing Director, Consentec
Georg Zachmann
Bruegel Senior fellow
Agenda
Check-in & lunch
12:30-13:00Agenda
Discussion
13:00-14:15- Chair: Georg Zachmann, Bruegel Senior fellow
- Lukasz Kolinski, Director for Green Transition and Energy System Integration, European Commission
- Marion Labatut, Director of EU Affairs, EDF
- Pamela MacDougall, Head of Energy Regulation, Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Christoph Maurer, Managing Director, Consentec
Agenda
Q&A
14:15-14:30Electrification is at the heart of the EU’s agenda as it works towards deep decarbonisation and economic competitiveness. However, electricity demand has remained stagnant, representing less than a quarter of final energy demand. To meet ambitious goals, the EU must electrify sectors like transport, heating, and industry.
Key policies are under discussion, including the Electrification Action Plan and the proposed Electrification Bank to support industrial projects. Investments in electricity grids are also crucial to manage the green and digital transitions. But there’s a new challenge: the growing ICT sector, particularly AI training clusters, which are significantly increasing electricity demand. In countries like Ireland, data centers already exceed 20% of electricity demand.
We explored how the EU can stimulate the growth of efficient electricity demand, drive the adoption of demand-side response to improve system efficiency, and scale electrification without increasing consumer costs.