Civil Engineering Infrastructure Solutions

NEW ANALYSIS: Meeting European climate goals will require a stark contraction in fossil gas use. But in many countries gas grid planning is based on the assumption of infinite gas grid use. Despite the substantial implications for gas grid users and infrastructure, current grid planning does not adequately reflect this new reality. This misalignment poses a substantial barrier to the transition towards a sustainable energy system and underscores the need for more holistic planning. Alignment of energy infrastructure planning with other planning processes could better support climate and social goals. Regulations regarding heat planning, for instance, have significant consequences for gas grid infrastructure development, heating appliance regulations and consumer burdens. Infrastructure planning processes also do not yet address the support needed to ensure vulnerable energy users are able to fully participate in the transition to cleaner, more efficient technologies. Our study provides comprehensive information on the current state of the gas grid, its development, and the regulatory framework in selected European countries, and identifies current regulatory barriers for the phase-out of fossil gas. It concludes with recommendations on how Member States could better align energy infrastructure planning with the attainment of national and EU climate targets: - Adopt a national phase-out target and give energy regulators a net zero mandate. - Make the regulatory framework fit for the gas phase-out. - Adopt integrated heat and grid planning. - Plan future gas infrastructure based on realistic assumptions about future availability of zero-carbon heating technologies. - Track and collect harmonised data at the EU level. - Protect vulnerable customers. More in our Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP) & Oeko-Institut e.V. report released today.

Power engineers are set to become one of the most in-demand professions in the coming decades. Studies and industry reports point to a massive surge in energy-related projects worldwide, driven by the transition to clean energy, the rise of electric vehicles, and the urgent need to modernize aging electrical grids. This shift places our profession at the heart of solving some of the biggest challenges of our time. Over the next ten years, power engineers will play a central role in reshaping the energy landscape and driving progress in ways that impact every aspect of society. Why? Because electricity powers everything, and the grid is evolving like never before. As countries push for net-zero emissions, renewable energy projects are scaling up globally. By 2030, the clean energy sector is expected to create 8 million jobs, with electrical engineers leading the way. Electric vehicles are transforming the transportation landscape. Governments and industries are making massive investments in charging infrastructure and electricity generation. None of it happens without electrical engineering expertise. The grid is aging and evolving. Much of our electrical infrastructure was built many decades ago and urgently needs modernization. Upgrades to substations, transmission lines, and system protection are critical to meeting today’s energy demands. At the heart of every solution to today’s energy challenges is electrical engineering. Whether it’s enabling clean power, modernizing infrastructure, or driving innovation, our work shapes the future. However, despite this escalating demand for power engineers, there's a notable decline in young people's interest in electrical engineering degrees. A VDE study reveals that electrical engineering now comprises just 3.5% of all students, a new low. In the U.S., the number of electrical engineering degrees awarded to U.S. citizens grew only 18.2% from 1997 to 2020, compared to 110% among temporary residents. Similarly, in Ireland, the number of students pursuing electrical engineering has dropped dramatically in recent years. This trend poses a significant challenge, as the industry faces a shortage of young talent to meet the growing demand for skilled power engineers. If you’re early in your career or considering this field, know this: the impact we make is immense, and the opportunities ahead are even greater. For the most experienced engineers: What is your feeling about the demand of Power Engineers in the next decade? What are you seeing in your day to day activities? Why do you think the interest of getting an Electrical Engineering degree is dropping? Drop a comment below and let's discuss. #PowerEngineering #EnergyTransition #ElectricalEngineering #FutureOfEnergy #GridModernization

Infrastructure is no longer just what we build. It’s how we connect and power the world around us. These insights with Blackstone’s Greg Blank reflect a shift we’re seeing in real time: infrastructure has become a trillion-dollar opportunity not because of its physical footprint, but because of the systems it enables and the economic empowerment it unlocks. Digital infrastructure, as well as energy transition and resilient logistics, are no longer future bets. They are active investment themes reshaping portfolios and redefining public-private partnerships. We’re seeing this play out on the ground at NEOM: 👉 From our logistics JV with DSV - Global Transport and Logistics 👉 To an AI factory campus with DataVolt 👉 And advancing green hydrogen with NEOM Green Hydrogen Company Each one is an example in how capital is structured, how sustainability is embedded from the start and how long-term value is tied to impact and scalability. The future of infrastructure isn’t a sector, it’s a strategy. And it’s being built right now by those who can align ambition with execution.   Worth a read: https://lnkd.in/d52rceSK

🔌 Reimagining EV Charging: Eaton + ChargePoint’s DC Microgrid Breakthrough ⚡ Big news from the RE+ trade show: Eaton and ChargePoint have unveiled a modular DC microgrid architecture that could redefine how we scale EV charging—especially for high-power commercial fleets. This isn’t just another charger. It’s a strategic shift. 🚚 Why it matters: - Traditional EVSEs often convert AC to DC inside each unit—adding bulk, heat, and inefficiency. - Eaton’s DC microgrid centralizes this conversion, streamlining infrastructure and enabling smaller, cooler, and more efficient DC fast chargers. - For megawatt-level charging (think Tesla Semi), this setup shields the main grid from sudden load spikes, handling peak demand locally. - Fewer conversion stages = less heat, less cooling fan operation, and lower particulate matter (PM) emissions around stations. 🏙️ Benefits across the board: - States & Utilities: Reduced grid stress, faster deployment, and better integration with renewables and energy markets. - Consumers: More reliable, cost-effective charging with lower environmental impact. - Organizations: Lower capex, smaller footprint, and up to 30% reduction in operational costs. This is a textbook example of how thoughtful engineering meets strategic electrification. It’s not just about charging faster—it’s about charging smarter. Source: https://lnkd.in/dureBYBD #EVCharging #DCMicrogrid #FleetElectrification #CleanTech #ChargePoint #Eaton #EnergyTransition #BatteryTech #MegawattCharging #EVInfrastructure #V2X #PMReduction #EVStrategy

The energy transition has always needed three things. Technology, investment and people. We've made progress on the first two. The third has however lagged. Yesterday's Clean Energy Jobs Plan seeks to fill that gap. 400k additional roles by 2030, taking total employment in clean energy to 860k. The plan specifies where the key needs are. Plumbers, electricians, welders - the skilled trades that build and maintain energy infrastructure, the roles where demand will exceed supply without intervention. Five Technical Excellence Colleges will focus training on these bottlenecks. Regional pilots in Cheshire, Lincolnshire and Pembrokeshire will test the approach, and £18m has been set aside to help oil and gas workers transition. Perhaps the most important change however is the role of coordination. Previously we've assumed the market would self-correct, but now we're - correctly - accepting that won't happen fast enough. This also means energy companies now have workforce projections they can plan against. Training providers know what skills to develop. Workers can see where opportunities exist. Skills shortages have been seen as a key risk to decarbonisation efforts for some time. Not the only one, but a significant one. We now have a plan that seeks to tackle it properly. Image via PA. Link to the announcement in the comments. BFY Group

🚗⚡ Thinking About EV Charging Stations? Let’s Make Sure They’re in the Right Spots! ⚡🚗 We know a lot about deploying EVSE. Planning EV charging infrastructure can feel like a big task. But it’s all about knowing where to start and focusing on what matters most. With EVs becoming more popular every day, there’s pressure to get chargers where people need them. So, how do you figure that out? Here’s a quick guide to help. 1️⃣ Find the Busy Spots Start with the data. Look at where traffic flows and where EV drivers are already. Highways, shopping areas, and workplaces are usually solid bets. Talk to local businesses, too. A good partnership with a store or café could make a charging station even more useful. 2️⃣ Make it Easy to Use Drivers love charging stations near things like restrooms, coffee shops, or stores where they can pass the time. And check out the grid in those areas. If the site already has the power capacity, you’ll save time and money on installation. 3️⃣ Think About Tomorrow Don’t just look at today’s needs. EVs are on the rise, so pick spots that can grow with demand. Keep future development plans in mind, too. Aligning with new housing or retail projects makes the investment even smarter. 4️⃣ Keep People Safe Drivers need to feel safe charging their cars at any hour. Well-lit areas with good visibility make a big difference. Security features like cameras and patrols help protect the chargers and the people using them. 5️⃣ Be Kind to the Environment Choose locations that don’t require a lot of disruption to the landscape. If possible, add renewable energy like solar panels to power the chargers. It’s a win-win for sustainability. Good planning now means smoother execution and happier EV drivers later. Charging stations in the right spots aren’t just convenient—they show your community is serious about building a green future. Got questions or ideas? Let’s talk about it in the comments. I’d love to hear your thoughts! 🔋🌍 Let’s make this happen together. #EVCharging #EVSE #EV #ElectricVehicle #MunicipalityEVCharging #Microgrids #AJPerkins #MicrogridMentor 💬

CPOs must address low utilization to find funding. More infrastructure isn’t the answer, owning the charging and driving experience is. For years, they have followed the same playbook: • Buy land • build stations • wait for volume to grow The assumption was straightforward: secure prime locations now, and as EV adoption increases, those stations will become essential. But here's where we are today: • Utilization rates are averaging 17%, meaning most chargers sit empty most of the time. • Investors are looking for more than just infrastructure expansion—they want to see sustainable business models. • Variable pricing only increases demand if drivers find those stations in the first place. You increase utilization by guiding more drivers to your station of choice. I know, #KnowledgeBomb. But you probably don't know that this isn't magic; it's just a result of owning the driving and charging experience through preferential EV routing. Today, Chargetrip drives 30GWh of energy demand to stations monthly, and EMSPs and CPOs benefit. Drivers make charging decisions before they start driving. So that's where you capture potential charging sessions. Think about how other industries operate: • Hotels don't wait for guests to stumble upon them, they optimize bookings through search and distribution. • Airports actively attract flights by negotiating routes and offering incentives. • Gas stations don't rely on location alone, they use branding, loyalty programs, and pricing strategies to drive traffic. EV charging needs to do the same. Drivers don't pick stations at random. Their choices are shaped by a search process that considers: • Price • availability • reliability • location and amenities And all of that happens before they even start driving. The real opportunity isn't in waiting for drivers to show up - it's in routing them to your network before they make a decision. CPOs who integrate routing into their strategy won't have to depend on utilization improving over time. They can actively steer demand to their stations, ensuring consistent revenue and higher asset efficiency.

Earlier this month the latest UK CfD round saw no bids from off-shore wind projects leading to strong criticism of the Government for failing to increase prices in response to rising supply chain costs. The reason for the problem is tha the Government and developers are working at cross purposes. The Government thinks it is providing subsidies to an immature technology which will eventually taper to zero. Developers think they are receiving a market hedge. After a quarter of a century of wind subsidies, we certainly are not in the "immature technology" zone any more. Developers want a hedge which will vary in response to supply chain costs and this means the strike price can go up as well as down. In the future, if wholesale electricity prices start trending towards zero as renewables set the market price, the CfD will be a subsidy again as well as a hedge, because developers will never be able to repay their capital costs if the price they receive for the electricity they sell is close to zero. In any case, if off-shore wind targets are to be met, the Government needs to have a re-think about the purpose of the CfD and how it will evolve as market conditions change. And it needs to move away from its expectation that subsidies will eventually disappear - they will not, unless some new income streams are devised for weather-based renewable generation. #renewables #energypolicy #subsidies https://lnkd.in/ezaXfXj7

Big news! Yesterday, the German 🇩🇪 Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection ( Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz BMWK) published a paper on measures to strengthen the wind industry, which had been discussed the day before with relevant representatives of the onshore and offshore wind industry. It addresses fundamental challenges of the wind industry in Germany and Europe! 👉🏼 *Cybersecurity* Offshore wind energy will become the backbone of energy supply and thus a central pillar of a resilient and independent energy supply. The security of wind turbines must therefore be a fundamental part of the national security agenda. The BMWK is committed to ensuring that companies that have access to power generation plants must meet cybersecurity requirements under energy law. It is also examining how security along the supply chains can be improved. 👉🏼 *Level Playing Field* Creation of a level playing field in the competitive conditions, especially with non-EU competitors, in order to prevent a “race to the bottom” through ruinous price competition. The BMWK will lobby the EU Commission to ensure that instruments such as the Foreign Subsidies Regulation are used effectively. 👉🏼* Reducing dependence on permanent magnets* Currently over 90% of permanent magnets come from outside Europe. An industry roadmap is to be developed by the end of the year/beginning of 2025 in order to gradually reduce dependencies. 👉🏼 *Growth financing for wind turbines* By 2030, there will be a need of around 16 billion euros in hedging and guarantee instruments for the production of wind turbines and related technologies. This is to be achieved by expanding the KfW “Sustainable Transformation Syndicated Loan” program. 👉🏼* Business Strategy Review* The BMWK will advocate that the business strategies at KfW, EBRD, EIB and other export financing instruments are reviewed and adjusted in order to counteract unfair competitive practices. This is particularly important if non-European producers of transformation technologies are to be co-financed that run counter to our national or European industrial policy interests or distort competition. It is good to see that the complex problem has been recognized and realistic courses of action have been outlined. Now rapid implementation must be the goal! 📝Measures announced by BMWK: https://lnkd.in/gnYHqiBH 📝Great press statement by Stiftung OFFSHORE-WINDENERGIE including a quote from Giles Dickson CEO of WindEurope https://lnkd.in/e6vsaXVw Source of picture: Recharge

With historic consensus on net zero fraying 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗞'𝘀 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝗮 𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗱𝘀. Not only is the 2050 target in the crosshairs of parties that once gave it their wholehearted support, but with major projects like Hornsea 4 and Berwick Bank hitting roadblocks, achieving clean power in 2030 looks harder than ever before. And this against a backdrop of 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝘂𝗽. Last year, NESO paid out £2.7 billion on balancing costs with wind curtailment a "major driver" and the volume of curtailed wind reaching 13% overall. In other words, for 15GW of offshore wind this means that 2GW is permanently constrained off. This could reach £8 billion by 2030. Is a muscular push towards 2030 the right response, or is it perhaps time to take a slightly different route? Any offshore wind push must address the following. 1) 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲: what buildout of grid and storage is achievable with the planning reforms under consideration. No point running massive AR7 tenders if there is insufficient connection capacity. 2) 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗯𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 is now very real as evidenced by the wind wakes discussion which, like ecological impacts is a cross-border matter. The fishing sector fulfils a critical role, yet in the absence of a national "marine protein strategy" is too often pushed aside. 3) 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀 need business cases to develop competitive offerings, and are much better served by predictable long term buildouts than a tsunami of tenders focused on a particular year. Security requirements for Chinese equipment suppliers need to be clear, and any strategic position that the UK takes should be aligned with that of the EU. 4) 𝗙𝗹𝗼𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱'𝘀 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀 have been brushed out of sight, meaning any delivery plans have become highly uncertain. One of the lessons from the wave & tidal sector is that leasing rounds in themselves are not enough; they need to be complemented by significant innovation investments into testing and demonstration, with transparency on technology performance. The appetite of private developers should not be overestimated as current market conditions are showing. Indeed, without sight of 15MW+ demonstrators, how can anyone plan an investment for a GW-scale floating windfarm? Collaboration with Asian deepwater markets is essential to ramp up the innovation pace. 5) 𝗚𝗕 𝗘𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 needs to define its investment strategy, and be very clear what is in scope and what is not. One of the lessons of the illustrious Green Investment Bank was that it started with low risk investments in operating offshore wind, and then gradually worked its way up the food chain. As a famous Dutch politician said almost two centuries ago, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲. So let's get down to it! #offshorewind #CP2030 #netzero