The CEO of NEDGIA, Nuria Rodríguez, and the CEOs of the leading distribution companies in Europe, grouped together under GD4S, join forces in Brussels. Together with Ditte Juul Jørgensen, they explained the main challenges for the sector and the potential of renewable gas as a real solution for decarbonisation.
Brussels, 30 January 2020 – Today, the CEO of NEDGIA, Nuria Rodríguez, took part in a meeting in Brussels with the Director-General for Energy in the European Union, Ditte Juul Jørgensen, together with the CEOs of the distribution companies that make up the Gas Distributors for Sustainability (GD4S) consortium.
The representatives from GRDF, Italgas, Distrigaz Sud Retele, Galp Gás Natural Distribuiçao and Gas Networks Ireland conveyed some of the key issues in the sector and their commitment to the potential of renewable gas as a real solution for the future of the energy system and its decarbonisation.
The group of European gas distributors seeks better knowledge of the innovations in solutions for natural gas, and places value on the existing gas distribution infrastructure, in order to reach the European targets for the decarbonisation of the economy.
The CEOs of the main gas distributors in Europe reminded the Director-General for Energy that “renewable gas and its distribution in the existing networks has unquestionable benefits, including the capacity to store large amounts that can be consumed when demand is high, and the fact that there are currently two million kilometres of gas network infrastructure ready to use at a reduced cost and with the ability to connect local renewable energy producers to any European consumer.”
During the meeting, the members of the association stressed that “the current gas networks are a unique European asset, which, thanks to renewable gas, can help to make even the most ambitious and demanding European decarbonisation objectives a reality.” In this respect, GD4S is seeking to combine the benefits of both gas and electricity in the centre of the strategy of the Directorate-General for Energy.
Both the CEO of Nedgia and the CEOs of the other companies also used the meeting to acknowledge the recently launched European Green Deal, due to its decarbonisation ambition, as well as to highlight the association’s commitment to helping the EU reach its climate change and emissions reduction objectives. By doing this, they expressed their willingness to increase dialogue between the different gas distributors and the European Union institutions to create a work framework that enables decarbonisation progress in the European economy.
About Gas Distributors for Sustainability (GD4S)
GD4S represents the most important stakeholders in the gas distribution sector in Europe, which serve 24.7 million customers and represent 20% of all European natural gas consumers. One of its objectives is to share approaches and best practice experiences in each of their respective markets in order to improve the quality of services provided to consumers.
About NEDGIA
NEDGIA, a subsidiary of the Naturgy group, is the leading company in the activity of natural gas distribution in Spain, where it operates through its different companies in eleven autonomous regions. The company supplies natural gas to 70% of all consumers in Spain: it has over 5.4 million supply points and has more than 53,800 kilometres of network in almost 1,150 Spanish municipalities.