Preparing for the complete rejection of Russian natural gas, the European Union will invest 240 billion euros in its electricity transmission network by 2040 through 141 projects. This includes interconnectivity with non-member states, which is the case with Croatia and its neighbors – Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).
The EU list includes the project for 400 kV transmission line Ernestinovo-Sombor between Croatia and Serbia and 400 kV transmission line Lika-Banja Luka between Croatia and BiH.
According to the plan, presented by the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E), the capacity of power transmission lines in Europe would be increased by 142 GW with 43,000 kilometers of new transmission lines added.
The idea behind the plan is to help connect the growing number of producers of solar and wind power to the electricity network, as part of a larger strategy to reduce natural gas as a fuel used in power plants or for heating. This is also in line with the so-called European Green Deal which aims to cut EU’s carbon dioxide emissions by 14 tons per year by 2030.
The plan should reduce gas-fired electricity generation in the EU by 9 TWh by 2030, and by 75 TWh by 2040, equivalent to 14 % of the EU’s gas- based electricity generation in 2021.
