After Brussels Airlines and Lineas, the new CEO Bernard Gustin must respond quickly to the challenges of the electricity network manager. There are 30 billion investments to be guaranteed, while the stock market is crashing, the price of the Princess Elisabeth offshore wind island is exploding and supplies must be guaranteed. A famous challenge.
Times are difficult for Elia. The company managing the electricity network in Belgium has lost almost 50% of its stock market value for a year, when the challenges are greater than ever and the necessary investments colossal.
After the departure of its CEO Chris Peeters for bpost, Elia experienced a transition period of several long months before Bernard Gustin was appointed. Precisely leading a rescue operation at Lineas, the man has experience. He takes office on January 15. And must take the time to study the files.
The refloating of Elia is vital for Belgium: it is one of the major players in an energy transition carried out in a chaotic manner.
The additional cost of Princess Elisabeth
Among Bernard Gustin’s first projects, there was the need to untangling the knot of the offshore wind island Prinesse Elisabeth. Presented as a jewel by the outgoing government of Alexander De Croo, sold and oversold to the media, it also turned out to be a costly choice: the amount of the project would have increased from 2.2 billion to more than 7 billion.
The explosion of costs due to inflation and the crisis in value chains has happened there. But the ambition of the project had also been overestimatedat least Bernard Gustin will have to decide whether some of its aspects should be revised downwards.
All, too, while the Ventilus and Boucle du Hainaut networks, which must transport electricity to land, are falling well behind schedulelack of permits and in the face of hostility from local residents. Another thorn in Elia’s side.
30 billion to generate
If this issue is emblematic, Elia has a lot of fish to fry in dealing with the massive electrification of society. By 2035, demand is expected to explode and increase by some 60%. The electrification of the vehicle fleet and heating, in particular, is at this price.
Elia’s plan for the period 2024-2029 therefore plans thirty billion investmentsknowing that a small ten billion is planned for Belgium, the rest having to cover needs in Germany where the company is also active.
A capital increase has been announcedin particular with the support of the SFPIM, a federal investment company, and the Flemish PMV. The municipalities, Elia’s key shareholders, have a vital role to play, but we know to what extent they are suffering on a budgetary level.
Operation “save soldier Elia” also intervenes in an explosive geopolitical contextwith the arrival of Donald Trump at the White House, resistant to offshore wind power while Elia is also active in the United States. When we know that energy has become the issue in numerous international standoffs, we see the full scale of the task.
Good luck…
