Promoting wind power and other renewables while dramatically expanding the grid system are now cornerstones of German energy policy, people attending the opening session at the Grids 2010 conference in Berlin were told today.

Jochen Homann, State Secretary, Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology for Germany, also told conference delegates that Europe badly needs new electricity highways to efficiently meet future energy needs.

“The need to act is most pressing,” Homann said, adding European citizens need to understand why policy makers now agree that it is vitally important to update the grid system despite considerable associated challenges and costs.

Delegates attending the Grids 2010 conference in Berlin on Tuesday and Wednesday will be hearing how both the future of Europe and its need for a totally revamped electricity structure are indelibly linked.

They’ll also hear that while building a so-called supergrid for the 21^st century will be expensive, the many benefits will far outweigh any costs associated with such an ambitious European project. And, in any event, our existing outdated grid requires very substantial investment.

And they’ll learn that having a properly functioning electricity market will help drive Europe’s goal of realising a new and robust green economy that can mitigate climate change, create tens of thousands of well-paying jobs and drive down power prices.

It’s a sure bet that when people descend upon Berlin next week for the grids conference that the European Wind Energy Association has organised, delegates attending the event will still be buzzing from recent timely news out of Brussels.

Those attending the two-day conference — “GRIDS 2010: the backbone of Europe’s energy future” — will almost assuredly be discussing Wednesday’s communication from the European Commission that €200 billion is needed to upgrade Europe’s gas and electricity grids over the next 10 years.

Some of the chatter around the coffee tables will also probably focus on another Commission communication — released on 10 November — which noted that the European Union is unlikely to achieve its 2020 targets without regional energy investments in the order of €1 trillion over the next decade.

The power of wind was invoked Sunday in one of the world’s most troubled nations when Pakistan and the US agreed on a public-private partnership to develop a 150-MW wind energy facility capable of creating enough electricity for 600,000 local homes.

“This project represents a meaningful, environmentally sound step toward addressing Pakistan’s energy crisis,” Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said in a press release.

“Partnership with the private sector will also demonstrate the potential of investing in the power sector in Pakistan.”

EWEA’s GRIDS 2010 conference is two weeks away. But what is it about, and why is it happening?

“Grids is a red-hot topic, which is at the forefront of policy makers’ minds right now”, explains Amy Parsons, EWEA’s Conference Manager. “The grids issue affects the wind energy industry because without a fully connected pan-European grid wind power cannot be effectively taken from where it is produced to where it is needed. And next year will be especially crucial, as the Commission is just about to publish its infrastructure package outlining how the European Union intends to ensure that a European grid becomes a reality.”

So from a political point of view it seems like a good time to organise an event focusing on electricity grids, especially from the point of view of the European wind industry.