Many of those at EWEA 2012 in April will have seen – or taken part in – the Free movement of electricity quiz at the EWEA stand. The winner of the Amazon Kindle has now been announced: it is Taamir Fareed, who works for a private equity fund which invests in wind energy, and is also a board member of the Finnish Wind Energy Association.

Other quiz winners got a mini-turbine. Overall, nearly 200 people took the quiz during the four-day event.

“It was great to see the high turnout and enthusiasm, and impressive to see people’s knowledge of Europe’s grids and electricity market issues”, commented Florian Becker, EWEA’s acting campaigns officer.

By Sarah Azau, EWEA

The Friends of the Supergrid, a group of companies and organisations with a mutual interest in promoting the policy agenda for a European Supergrid, have signed a Joint Declaration with representatives of Medgrid, the Renewable Grid Initiative and the Desertec Industrial Initiative, as well as representatives of the Climate Parliament. The Declaration is a call for action on the European Supergrid.

President of Friends of the Supergrid Dr Eddie O’Connor stated: “There are now no technical barriers to the delivery of a European Supergrid. What is now required is the regulatory and investment framework to enable the construction of its first legs, to bring sustainable, clean energy from the north and south of Europe to cities and communities across the continent.”

“Europe’s vast renewable energy reserves are a continental resource to be traded in a single electricity market. An interconnected Europe will deliver affordable and secure sources of low carbon electricity to consumers who are today penalised by barriers to trade and exposure to volatile fossil fuel prices.”

Click here to read the full press release.

22/03/2012

By Tom Rowe, EWEA

The principle is straightforward – increased coordination between wind farm investors and offshore transmission owners would mean that instead of building individual connections to land for each development, it would be possible to link the wind farms, lowering overall construction and operating costs.

The report was published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), and the UK energy regulator Ofgem, which has launched a consultation on potential changes to the regulatory regime for offshore transmission assets.

Charles Hendry, UK Minister of State for Energy, said: “There are a number of ways we can reduce the cost of offshore wind, and this is definitely one of the most exciting.

“Linking up power cables between offshore wind farms could make some serious savings, so we would be crazy not to encourage it. These cables could even be linked up to European projects, increasing opportunities for trading electricity.

Guy Nicholson of RenewableUK said: “Early investment in planning, developing, permitting and constructing offshore transmission will help to deliver networks in the most cost effective manner. As well as connecting the 18 GW of offshore wind generation RenewableUK expects to be operating by 2020, the offshore transmission regime can help reduce timescales and costs for both onshore reinforcements and interconnection with the rest of Europe.”

8/03/2012

By Tom Rowe, EWEA

An independent survey of businesses, industrial associations, NGO’s and think tanks has found that 81% of respondents believe creating a single European electricity market and the necessary grid infrastructure should be an EU policy priority.

The phase-out of nuclear energy in Germany, and the need to integrate wind and solar power, means the improvement of the grid is more vital than ever.

The survey included questions on giving priority, funds and planning waivers to allow the speedy construction of European grid infrastructure. The majority of responses were positive, with 87% saying the EU should ensure that decisions on permits are taken more quickly, and 70% supporting time limits for resolving planning disputes.

Julian Scola of the European Wind Energy Association said “It is rare that there is such remarkable unanimity across industry and NGOs on a piece of legislation coming before the European Parliament. It sends a message that there is very strong support for the EU taking action to speed up the grid permitting process and proposing new financing mechanisms.”

Speaking at a European Economic and Social Committee conference, the energy commissioner, Günther Oettinger, said it was “irreconcilable” that “the construction of electricity cables across the Pyrenees took thirty years because one member state had no interest in that competition.”

Find the summary here.

5/03/2012

The Prime Ministers see the swift implementation of the Third Energy Package by all member states as the method to bring about a working internal energy market. At the heart of that package is the concept of unbundling – separating the operation of electricity networks from the business of providing generating power.

In addition to the Third Energy Package, the Prime Ministers demand that “Energy interconnection…be enhanced to help underpin security of supply.” The establishment of an effective energy grid infrastructure in Europe is the central message of the call for Free Movement of Electricity. “When it comes to transmission networks, particularly for electricity and gas, we’re still living in a world of 19th-century principalities,” Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger recently told a council of energy ministers in Brussels.

The Prime Ministers also believe that “Urgent action is…needed, nationally and where appropriate collectively, to remove planning and regulatory barriers to investment in infrastructure to release the potential of the single market and support green growth and a low-emissions economy.”

Hans ten Berge, EURELECTRIC Secretary General, is in agreement – “energy infrastructure is the backbone of the EU economy. In the interest of a sustainable, competitive and secure energy supply, policymakers must do their utmost to support such infrastructure investments, for example through streamlined permitting procedures or innovative financing solutions for cross-border projects.”

Finally, the signatories of the letter commit to making “concrete progress” towards establishing the Connecting Europe Facility. This is a €50 billion plan to boost Europe’s transport, energy and digital networks, €9.1 billion of which is earmarked to modernise and extend energy infrastructure to help meet Europe’s climate and energy needs.

“In 2002 the European Council agreed to a target of electricity interconnections equivalent to 10% of capacity. Today many Member States still do not meet that target. Therefore the Connecting Europe Facility is crucial to finally advance on cross-border infrastructure,” said Folker Franz of Business Europe.

The Prime Ministers of the UK, the Netherlands, Italy, Estonia, Latvia, Finland, the Republic of Ireland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and Poland all signed the letter, despite some of those countries having recently called for reductions in the overall EU budget.

“It sends a very positive signal that 12 Prime Ministers are supporting the setting up of the Connecting Europe Facility and the removal of planning barriers to infrastructure” said Julian Scola, Communications Director of EWEA. “This is precisely what we are calling for in our Free Movement of Electricity statement. Now we have to hold them to their word.”

23/02/2012

Last week the UK and France signed an agreement on nuclear power that could – going by the growing body of evidence on the rising cost of nuclear power – prove to be a huge drain on the public purse in the future. But at the same UK-France summit, a separate agreement was clinched to build an electricity interconnector between the two countries that could see Europe stepping closer to a more energy-secure future.

The interconnector cable, known as the FABLink, will connect France, the Channel Island of Alderney and mainland Britain. Edward Davey, UK Energy Secretary, said he recognises the “importance of further developing new electricity interconnectors between our two countries in order to strengthen further the linking of our grids, improve the security of our energy supplies and facilitate the integration of intermittent energy sources.”

Meanwhile, the UK announced another new electricity link last week – a subsea interconnector between Hunterston in West Scotland and the Wiral peninsula in England near the Welsh border. The 418 km cable will bring renewable energy from Scotland further south helping the UK to meet its carbon cutting targets. It is due to be online by 2016.

“The additional capacity from this link will provide a significant boost to renewable energy projects that we are developing in Scotland in order to bring clean energy to consumers throughout the country,” Ignacio Galan, Chairman of Scottish Power said.

The Scottish government wants to increase its renewable power generation from 10 TWh today to 50 TWh by 2020 – in order to meet its target of 100% renewable electricity by 2020. Scotland already has over 2,500 MW of wind power capacity.

These announcements come as European Commissioner for Energy, Günther Oettinger, last week warned that Europe must co-operate on grids at a European level or face declining global competitiveness.

20/02/2012

By Zoe Casey, EWEA

As the over 8,200 participants entered the Amsterdam RAI conference centre it was hard to miss the stairs emblazoned with the message ‘Free movement of electricity – Give your support’. This is exactly what four VIP speakers did – signing a giant free movement of electricity statement at the EWEA stand.

After the opening session on Tuesday 29 November, four top figures showed their support: Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, former Prime Minister of Denmark and now President of Lindoe Offshore Renewable Centre; Jan Kjaersgaard CEO of Siemens Wind Power; Mike Winkel, CEO, E.ON Climate & Renewables and Eddie O’Connor, CEO of Mainstream Renewable Power.

Importantly, the support of E.ON, one of the largest electricity utilities in Europe, makes the call for free movement of electricity significantly stronger. This new name can be joined to the existing list of 34 companies and associations calling for free movement of electricity.

As well as technical discussions on offshore grid technology and the connection of offshore wind power plants, the obstacles facing the construction of a modernised grid for Europe were examined at OFFSHORE 2011. Ana Aguado, chief executive of Friends of the Supergrid, one of the supporters of Free Movement of Electricity, voiced concerns on the lack of cross-border infrastructure in Europe. This will result in the plans to complete the single market in energy by 2014 not being realised. “It’s not realistic to talk about a single power market because there just isn’t the infrastructure,” Aguado said.

Offshore wind energy is an essential part of the solution to this problem, according to Adam Bruce of Mainstream Renewable Power, one of the companies supporting Free Movement of Electricity. ”Whatever the scenario, it is inconceivable to build all the 40,000 km of new power grid infrastructure [that EU power grid body Entso-e says is necessary by 2030], unless you build it offshore. And you have to look to where it will begin — it will start in the North Sea because that is where the need is and that is where the big centers of demand are, in Germany and the UK,” Bruce said.

Give your support to the call for Free movement of electricity here.

This message is likely to be welcomed by the 34 associations and companies that support the call for Free Movement of Electricity. They have called for a single internal power market and the network infrastructure to facilitate it. As the Commissioner says, such improved grid infrastructure is necessary to allow the use of more wind energy. But it is also a fact that a better grid means an enhancement of the possibilities for distribution of energy between all European countries, no matter how it is generated.

Improved grid infrastructure, along with the development of a single power market, is vital for a modern Europe, where people, capital, goods and services are already free to move but energy is now. With the Commission discussing its new Energy Infrastructure Package, now is the time to emphasise the importance of this goal. As Commissioner Oettinger said in Amsterdam , “energy networks are at the heart of our energy system, without them we cannot meet our energy and climate targets nor complete the European internal market”.

At discussions in Luxembourg on 24 November, they heard a first “exchange of views” on the plan, in which “electricity networks must be upgraded and modernised to meet increasing electricity demand”. The proposal aims not only at the physical infrastructure for energy, but also at the “full integration of the internal energy market”, to “ensure security of supply in the Union, to promote energy efficiency and…the interconnection of energy networks”, a European Council briefing said.

Supporting this plan for free movement of electricity is a collection of 34 concerned organisations. Organised by EWEA, Europacable and Eurelectric, the 17 associations and 17 companies have come together to lend their voice to the call for a single electricity market to increase competition, improve security of supply, help deliver climate goals and integrate modern technologies including renewables. Ranging from renewable energy associations to high-tech engineering companies, these 34 organisations support a statement sent today to all 27 Permanent Representations to the EU by Eurelectric, in which the importance of achieving these goals is emphasised, and published in EU affairs newspaper ‘European Voice’.

To lend your support for free movement of electricity by signing the supporters form on this website.

In a letter sent to Günther Oettinger, European commissioner for energy, nine national grid operators, 10 environmental organisations – including BirdLife International and WWF – and five other organisations said they backing the European Commission’s energy infrastructure plans published last month.

They support “Europe’s ambition to boost renewable electricity and cut carbon emissions,” a renewable-grid-initiative press release said. They also said they aim to raise public awareness of the need to extend grids to bring more renewables online.

Antonella Battaglini, director of the renewables-grid-initiative, said, “this declaration shows that Europe’s energy and environmental commitments don’t need to be in conflict – we can build grids fast for renewables and also protect nature.”

See here to see the signatories to the letter.