OREANDA-NEWS. SSE Chief Executive Alistair Phillips-Davies will today meet with leading figures from across the European energy industry to discuss opportunities and challenges in the progress towards low carbon economies.

The Eurelectric conference in Vilnius, Lithuania will see more than 500 delegates from across Europe consider how electricity markets need to change in the future as demand and interaction with energy alters in the years ahead.  

Alistair is Vice President of Eurelectric and will join President Ant?nio Mexia of EDP and fellow Vice-President Jean-Bernard L?vy of EDF at the annual conference.  

His focus is on the EU ETS legislation revisions under scrutiny by European institutions, and how this can provide a robust carbon price signal to help the move to cleaner generation and a better functioning electricity market.  

He said:   “As a technology-neutral, European wide instrument, strengthening the EU ETS can ensure the cost-effective decarbonisation of the European electricity system, and create a market pull for investment for low carbon technologies.

“Without further strengthening, the EU ETS will be irrelevant to the power sector for the next decade and the EU will struggle to meet its 2030 renewables target without additional measures.

“Market design has to capture four key elements; energy, capacity, flexibility and carbon, in order to provide the necessary signals to deliver investment.”

Emerging technologies will change the energy market considerably in the years ahead and Eurelectric President Mexia said: “Electrification is fundamental to long-term growth and to the transition to a low-carbon economy. Innovative technologies, combined with advances in digital solutions, create opportunities for progress, not only in the power sector, but also in the transport, buildings and other industrial sectors. Stable regulatory frameworks that adapt to the changing reality of the power sector are also needed.”

An estimated $2.2 trillion needs to be invested by 2035 to meet the EU’s energy and climate goals and ensure secure, affordable and low carbon energy supplies in the decades ahead.