Europe’s gridA 10-year plan for Europe’s grid
A new study shows that 104 billion euro over ten years need to be invested in the refurbishment or construction of roughly 52,000 km of extra high voltage power lines and cables across Europe in order to add 3 percent generation capacity and the reliable integration of 125 GW of renewable energy sources
The European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) last week released its Ten-Year Network Development Plan 2012 (TYNDP) and submitted it to the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulations (ACER) for its opinion in line with Reg. (EC) 714/2009.
ENTSO-E says that as in the 2010 version, cumbersome permit-granting procedures and a lack of public acceptance of power lines are presently the most relevant obstacles. Extending the grid by only 1.3 percent a year would enable adding 3 percent generation capacity and the reliable integration of 125 GW of renewable energy sources. For less than 2ct per kWh of end-users’ electricity bills over the decade, the TYNDP 2012 proposed investments allow achieving the EU energy and climate goals in an efficient and secure way.
ENTSO-E president, Daniel Dobbeni commented: “In light of these very positive results, all European TSOs [transmission system operators] are urging the European Commission and Parliament to move ahead with the Draft Regulation on Guidelines for Energy Infrastructure Priorities and, in particular, its provisions on streamlining permit granting procedures through a three-year time limit and the so-called one-stop-shops. I want also to thank all stakeholders for their valuable input and constructive attitude helping us to deliver a high quality package. On the basis of the TYNDP 2012 multi-criteria valuation technique, ENTSO-E will propose after the summer break a cost-benefit-analysis methodology for the valuation of Projects of Common Interest hoping to contribute furthermore to the Commission’s effort to boost energy infrastructure development.”
EU Energy commissioner Günther Oettinger said: “ENTSO’s work and the TYNDP are crucial for transparency and enhanced coordination for network development in Europe. I thank ENTSO-E for the substantial work done and progress made vis-à-vis the TYNDP 2010 and welcome particularly ENTSO-E’s efforts to make this TYNDP an important building block to realize the European energy infrastructure priorities as set out in the Draft Regulation on Guidelines for trans-European infrastructure.”
Key findings of TYNDP
Responding to stakeholders’ request for a more comprehensive and clear presentation, the TYNDP 2012 is a package comprising eight documents: the Scenario Outlook and Adequacy Forecast, six Regional Investment Plans, and the pan-European TYNDP report.
The TYNDP 2012 shows that, consistent with the assumptions of the European Commission, €104 billion need to be invested in the refurbishment or construction of roughly 52,000 km of extra high voltage power lines and cables. These are clustered into 100 major investment projects across Europe. The fast and massive development of renewable energy sources (RES) drives larger, more volatile, power flows over longer distances across Europe and is responsible for 80 out of 100 identified bottlenecks.
