Copenhagen, April 8, 2025 – At the WindEurope conference in Copenhagen, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) has published a white paper developed jointly with Elia Group and GASCADE setting out a pathway for a competitive, resilient, and clean European energy system.
Europe is facing several intersecting challenges: competitiveness, affordable energy, geopolitical pressures and climate change. Europe's future energy supply lies at the very heart of the answer to these challenges.
Together CIP, Elia Group and GASCADE address the European energy challenge emphasizing the need for stronger cooperation between Transmission System Operators (TSOs) and private developers, as well as enhanced collaboration across electricity and hydrogen transmission networks. By enabling synergies between the electricity sector and Power-to-X technologies, Europe can achieve a cost-efficient and sustainable buildout of its future energy infrastructure.
The white paper outlines several key focus areas to establish a competitive, resilient, and clean energy system in Europe by 2050. These focus areas include steps to mobilise private capital including fostering public-private partnerships, developing new financing models that ensure fair cost and risk allocation, and promoting anticipatory infrastructure investments.
Additionally, the paper calls for regulations and policies for a system-friendly location and operation of large-scale electrolysers and a holistic approach for planning of electricity and hydrogen infrastructure.
As Europe strives to establish long-term competitiveness in renewable energy and green supply chains, the white paper provides impetus for the discussion on how to utilise synergies and make the transformation to a climate-neutral energy system as efficient as possible. With the renewable potential and capital available, Europe is well-positioned to supply clean and cost-competitive electricity and produce a significant share of its hydrogen demand within the continent, driving its energy independence.
Stefan Kapferer, CEO 50Hertz and member of the Elia Group Steering Committee: “In the future we need more private capital for the expansion of renewable energies and transport infrastructures, a flexible regulatory framework so that hydrogen production by electrolysers can be carried out in a way that is beneficial to the system and the grid and we need to align the planning processes for electricity and hydrogen networks at all levels – on European level, on national level, and also for the respective sea areas in Europe, primarily for the North Sea and Baltic Sea.”
Christoph von dem Bussche, CEO GASCADE: “Electrons and molecules complement each other and will be crucial for an optimized energy system. To achieve this a close alignment for the expansion of electricity and hydrogen grids is needed, on- and offshore. With the new association ENNOH we create the necessary framework for the development of an efficient hydrogen transport infrastructure at European level and strengthen the cooperation with the electricity side.”
Thomas Dalsgaard, Partner Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners: “Europe will need roughly EUR 200 bn annual investments in the energy system in order to lower the cost of energy to consumers, ensuring energy independence, and at the same time decarbonising. The scale of required investments is too large to be financed by TSOs and public entities alone. However, there is plenty of private capital available for investment in energy infrastructure – provided the right conditions exist. New financing models that include a fair cost and risk allocation are needed. What is new is the need for private investors and TSOs to work closer together, which is why I really appreciate our exchange and cooperation with Elia Group and GASCADE.”
Download the full paper “Green Electricity and Hydrogen for a competitive, resilient and clean European Energy System.”