During my holidays this summer I met, by happenstance, an expert specialized in forecasts modeling, who has been involved in this very problematic, advising the

During my holidays this summer I met, by happenstance, an expert specialized in forecasts modeling, who has been involved in this very problematic, advising the dutch government. He told me that the problem had been forecast and known since the early 2000s, and that basically nothing was done about it until very recently (think less than 5 years). The problem was made worse with the privatization of the electricity network, as the incentive to invest in primary net infrastructure was very low. So it's the classical case of a known problem with no will to invest, combined with successive governments that wash their hands saying "it's privatized, we cannot interfere". (so also with no will to invest) The problem was foreseen, the plans were made and proposed with actionable steps and real deadlines, and nothing was done because the costs were too high. And now the short-to-medium term prognosis is bleak, with blackouts a real possibility.