Europe may have to consider building transmission lines underground — despite the increased cost — to get around the problem of Nimbyism, the head of the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) tells Recharge.

“[People] don’t want transmission lines when it affects their lives,” said Francesco La Camera in his strong Italian accent. “There are many, many investments that may be more environmentally friendly — all the transmission lines that can be buried underground.”

When Recharge pointed out that burying cables could treble their cost, he replied: “Yes, that’s correct, but you always have to consider what are the financial costs and the ‘real costs', in terms of health, security, etc.” 'Real costs' is a term that includes intangible factors such as time and the cost of not doing something.

Some power-line developers in the US are also considering going underground due to the difficulties of building pylons and cables above ground.

La Camera's preference, he explained, would clearly be to build overhead transmission lines, but this would require better communication with the public. “We have to be able to create a narrative where we say that in [return for] a modest impact on the landscape, we will have a big impact on health, energy security and quality of life.

“And I think that the impact of renewables on jobs has to be better communicated, to explain that we are not losing jobs but we are acquiring jobs with renewables.”

The importance of new transmission lines and more interconnections between countries should not be underestimated, he said, arguing that this was the biggest challenges facing the energy transition in Europe.

“From my point of view, having a really unified market is important. The obligation in the [EU’s recently agreed] Clean Energy Package to have at least 10% interconnection [ie, cross-border transmission lines that are able to export up to 10% of a country’s power capacity by 2020] … I think that number may increase when we reconsider the need for countries selling and buying variable renewable electricity — to make the grids be more stable.”

He also suggests that individual countries may struggle to pay for the necessary build-out.

“The widening of the grid and interconnection between grids, I think will ensure in large part the stability of the system, and this is something that you may have difficulties with affording at the country level.”

At the same time, he acknowledges that political difficulties may arise if the costs of new transmission lines significantly increase consumers’ energy bills.

“This is our challenge,” he said. “We will be working to get there, and we will be supporting our member states to get there.”

Finance is one of La Camera’s priorities for his four-year term as Irena boss, which began in January. He tells Recharge he wants the organisation to bring in more “private companies, financial multilateral institutions, investors and the bank system” when advising member states on policy measures.

This is something that financiers will be extremely keen to do, he adds. “We have estimated that from every $1 invested [in renewables], there is a payback of $3-7.”

Transition

Irena boss: 'Nimbyism' may drive renewable lines underground