**1. Motivations**

In the 2020 and 2030 Climate-Energy Packages, the EU committed to lower greenhouse gas emissions by 20% with respect to 1990 and 55% by 2030 (very recent EU target) and to reach a share of renewables of 20% by 2020 and at least 27% by 2030. Today, there is a great concern about the conflict between energy and the environment. In this context, it is becoming usual to expect that an extraordinary increase of the use of electricity in the energy production, transport, and consumption will help a sustainable future. Enormous energy savings and exciting enhancements in quality of life will be enabled by new power electronics (PE) energy conversion systems. All energy-consuming devices, from pacemakers and home appliances to electric vehicles and industrial waste processing plants, will be affected. All alternative, sustainable and distributed energy (DE) sources, as well as energy storage systems, will be tied to the smart grid (SG) through swift and efficient PEs converters.

For competitive low-carbon renewable energy, transport energy, and smart grid applications, the impact of power electronics is striking where an optimized electrical energy conversion is demanded by the society. Approximately 30% of all electric generated power utilizes power electronics somewhere between the point of generation and its end use. Power electronics is used for more efficient transport, renewable energy production, and distribution including in highly efficient electricity distribution over long distances via high-voltage direct current power lines (HVDC) as well as in the better control of loads in switching power supplies and variable-speed drives for motors that drive fans, pumps, and compressors. By 2030, it is expected that perhaps as much as 80% of all electric power will use power electronics somewhere between generation and consumption. However, with the current state-of-the-art electric equipment, the transformation of the electrical energy occurs with significant losses (in the order of 10% from the source to the point of use) because available semiconductors are not ideal for high power.

The key to the efficient transmission and conversion of low-carbon electrical energy is the improvement of power electronic devices, which must be durable and reliable in high-power environments to eliminate the need for auxiliary systems for its use in transport (airplane, cars, etc.). "Green electronics", i.e., highly efficient electronic devices, are crucially important for our future energy system. A first estimation gives a 75% reduction in losses, representing about a 10 MW energy saving on a 300 MW HVDC converter. The disruptive approach of the use of diamond in electronic devices can contribute knowledge, new approaches, innovative materials, and skills arising from the cross-fertilization with other WBG materials to yield more efficient and cost-competitive energy technologies.
