Climate risks

large-scale exercises and simulator trainings so that our staff and transmission system operators, as the case may be, are ready to deal with the most unexpected and extreme situations. In the event of an error attributable to ELIA TRANSMISSION BELGIUM, the respective general terms and conditions of its contracts provide for appropriate liability caps for ELIA TRANSMISSION BELGIUM, as the case may be, to a reasonable level. Each relevant insurance policy is designed to limit some of the financial repercussions if these risks were to occur.

Should unfavorable circumstances occur, ELIA TRANSMISSION BELGIUM may take any emergency measures it deems appropriate, such as disconnecting some or all electricity exports, requesting electricity-generating companies to increase or decrease their electricity production or requesting a reduction in the electricity consumption from the competent Minister in the relevant area to reduce the impact of the event.

Additionally, the design and operation of offshore as well as onshore technologies takes constraints related to repair time, monitoring opportunities and grid resilience into account. A framework for crisis management for managing all corporate crisis situations such as community relations issues is under development.

Further information

As a regulated entity, ELIA TRANSMISSION BELGIUM acts in accordance with the "network codes" applicable at European, federal and regional level, while network access contracts are approved by the regulator.

ELIA TRANSMISSION BELGIUM's exposure under the regulatory framework and these contracts is limited to an acceptable amount.

These risks are generally covered by a "liability" insurance contract for the appropriate amounts.

In Belgium, due to resource bottlenecks, asset replacements and capital expenditures are generally subject to arbitration, which contributes to the ageing of some asset fleets, complicates the asset management and may eventually affect the availability of some network components and the performance of protection devices. In terms of security, the screening of relevant profiles is applied and projects to improve the security of critical infrastructure are ongoing.

2.2.4 Climate risks

The risks associated with climate change are especially important for ELIA TRANSMISSION BELGIUM given our ambition to deliver the infrastructure of the energy transition, which helps achieve climate targets at the same time. Climate change & energy transition bring uncertainties & challenges to our TSO missions related to markets, system & infrastructure. These include, notably, changes in regulation, selection of technologies or informed infrastructure management in light of physical risks. Indeed, the possibility of having temperature patterns, sea levels, the contours of flood prone areas, or even the frequency and severity of extreme weather events modified may in turn lead to less favorable operating conditions for our assets or even damage them. Such circumstances may trigger risk factors for contingency events & business continuity disruption. Currently, the most important physical risk sources are extreme weather events causing damage to our outdoor infrastructure & flooding of substations.

Responses

The assessment of climate risks is integrated into a multi-disciplinary group-wide risk management process, where risks are identified, assessed, & high priority risks closely followed-up.