Interview with Dr. Naihu Li, Vice-President of CHINT T&D and Head of the CHINT Group R&D Institute
Europe's energy transition has an infrastructure problem that capital commitments alone cannot solve. Across 16 European countries, over 1500 gigawatts of renewable capacity sit in grid connection queues. Lead times for large power transformers have stretched well beyond two years in every major market. The investment is committed. The political mandate is there. And yet the transformers, switchgear, and high-voltage equipment the grid requires are not ready to ship.
Into this gap steps Dr. Naihu Li, Vice-President of CHINT T&D and Head of the CHINT Group R&D Institute, with a message for European grid operators grounded equally in certification data, delivery evidence, and 14 years of operational references across the continent. The credible alternative they are looking for, he argues, has been energising European grids since 2012.
When European grid operators and TSOs describe the infrastructure emergency, what do they get right? What do they miss?
They get the scale exactly right. The ambition is genuinely unprecedented in peacetime infrastructure terms. Tennet alone has earmarked €200 billion through 2034 to expand the German and Dutch networks, an investment commitment confirmed directly by the company in March 2025. Germany's grid plan calls for 5,000 new transformers and 3,500 kilometres of new transmission lines by 2045 to execute its energy transition. Eurelectric puts the annual DSO investment requirement at €67 billion, against a current run rate of approximately €33 billion, a €34 billion annual shortfall.
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CHINT in Europe: Project milestones Operating in European grids since 2012
- Montenegro (2012 - ongoing): 400 kV autotransformers and 220 kV units.
- Sweden (2015): 225 kV transformer.
- Greece (2016): 2 x 400 kV units.
- Greece (2021): 7 x 150 kV transformers for 17 wind farm power station connections.
- France (2022): Dual-voltage package: 225 kV + 63 kV transformers.
- Greece (2023): 2 x 400 kV 340 MVA power transformers + 4 x 150 kV units.
- Norway (2023): 6 x 132 kV units.
- Netherlands (2023): 2 x 150 kV 150 MVA transformers.
- Serbia (2023 - 2025): Multiple contract batches: 400 kV 300 MVA and 220 kV 250 MVA transformers.
- Greece (2024 - ongoing): 18 x 150 kV 50 MVA main transformers for the Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator.
- Italy (2024 - 2025): Multi-lot, multi-batch framework: 147 units of 132 kV and 150 kV transformers.
- United Kingdom (2024 - 2025): 400 kV transformer; 132 kV units; 66 kV for Banks Renewables.
- Spain - RECURRENT ENERGY (2025): 4 x 125 MVA 220 kV transformer supplying REY SOLAR utility-scale photovoltaic plant grid connection.
- Germany (2025 - 2026): 115 kV solar integration transformers (x3); 9 x 400 kV photovoltaic transformers; 115 kV for ENERTRAG Netz GmbH.
- Poland (2026): 4 x 410 kV + 3 x 115 kV transformers for energy storage infrastructure.
