By Kari Williamson

In response to last week's report from the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee, A European Supergrid, Dr Simon Harrison from the IET says: “If the Government is serious about this it must ensure a systematic approach, backed up by unwavering determination.

“This is a project offering big gains. The scale of this should not be under-estimated, not just in cost terms, but in technical complexity and political ambition.

“Whilst we would strongly support further analysis of cost and benefits, and the design of UK offshore networks to support a future European Supergrid, the realisation of a European Supergrid will be a long-term business.

“We need to better understand the value in the proposed European Supergrid in managing wind variability versus other options, and taking account of the need to deal with prolonged periods of low wind across Europe.

“Assuming that this analysis shows positive benefits then we would agree with the Committee that strong government leadership and action will be needed to drive this agenda forward in Europe.”