The EU has the following target in place for the sharing of electricity:

The EU has set an interconnection target of at least 15% by 2030 to encourage EU countries to interconnect their installed electricity production capacity. This means that each country should have in place electricity cables that allow at least 15% of the electricity produced on its territory to be transported across its borders to neighbouring countries.

The main reasons to do this is that it is good for renewables and it is good for overall resilience. The UK, for example, has one of the largest offshore wind markets in the world. But if it's having a bad wind year, interconnections allow it to import the electricity it may need -- perhaps from Norway, which is Europe's biggest producer of hydropower.

Here is what that looked like in 2021 (via the FT):

Of course, this works really well when there's enough electricity to go around and everyone is cooperating. The question this winter is whether that changes at all.

This is an interesting chart from Nathaniel Bullard over at Bloomberg Green. In 1985 (the start of this chart), coal-fired power was responsible for about 38% of global electricity generation. This particular stat hasn't changed all that much since then -- the current figure is around 36% -- but renewables have gone from 0.8% to 13% of global electricity. That is something. Since 2010, renewables are adding about 0.8% market share each year, and presumably this rate will only increase going forward. (Here, renewable power is defined as wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, and small hydropower.)

Chart: Bloomberg Green

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has just published what it is calling the first comprehensive roadmap for transitioning the world to a net zero energy system by 2050. Turns out, it's only going to take a complete overhaul of pretty much everything to hit this important target. We are going to need to start investing some $820 billion each year (starting in 2030) on our electrical grids to support the electrification of the global economy. 90% of electricity generation is going to need to come from renewables, with 70% likely coming from solar PV and wind alone. 60% of global car sales will need to be electric by 2030. We'll need to completely halt the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035. And by 2040, we will need to have retrofitted at least half of our existing building stock.

Make no little plans. For a copy of the report, click here.