Electricity, the great alliance

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All together to drive, and accelerate, electrification in Europe as a key tool for decarbonisation and to make the economy of the old continent more efficient.

On 23 June in Brussels the Electrification Alliance was launched, an alliance of six organizations from the sector, European Association for Battery, Hybrid and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (AVERE), Eurelectric, European Copper Institute, the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA), SolarPower Europe and Wind Europe. Numerous companies and utilities from the sector have signed up to the alliance, including Enel.

The Electrification Alliance aims to serve as a reference point and coordinate for European policies to drive and accelerate the transition towards an energy efficient system, a lower carbon intensity and the development of innovative technologies, such as intelligent networks and storage systems, capable of increasing the use of renewables in diverse fields, including those central to the fights against global warming, such as systems for air-conditioning and transport.

With this objective stated in the declaration signed at its launch, the Alliance called for the revision of the current European regulation on the matter in order to speed up the progress of electrification in the coming years, to maximize the potential of an efficient and decarbonized economy in terms of competitiveness of the European system, economic growth, job creation and the promotion of a more sustainable society for all of Europe’s citizens.

The declaration that formed the alliance established the year 2050 as a deadline by which Europe should have achieved decarbonisation, a unanimous acknowledgement of the threat represented by climate change.

These interventions and goals are in keeping with our Group’s Strategic Plan 2017-2019 that has put sustainability and innovation at the core of our business together with digitalization and a customer centred approach. These are cornerstones and tools that Enel believes are indispensable in order to achieve the goal of decarbonisation of its energy generation mix by 2050, promoting universal access to energy that is cheap and safe, and encouraging balanced economic growth in all of the contexts in which the Group works and incorporating into the business the sustainable development goals (SDGs) outlined in the United Nations 2030 Agenda.

This long term vision translates into solid commitments such as the reduction by 2020 of 25% (compared with 2007 levels) of CO2 emissions in the production of electricity, investments in the sector of renewables worth 5.2 billion euros during the period 2017-2019, and a gradual and selective reduction in the number of thermoelectric power plants, repurposing and transforming the old power plants based on the concept of the circular economy.

In addition to this initiative is the establishment of cutting edge services for customers to increase their energy efficiency and awareness of their own consumption, supported by the digitalization of the network infrastructure and the development of projects for electric mobility. Finally, Enel’s research and continuous development of innovative solutions in the field of electricity has recently led to the creation of a new business line e-Solutions, for the development of integrated technology such as Vehicle to Grid that enables the use of electric car batteries to support the electricity network.