By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Wed, 2009-05-27 13:56
After heated debates on the final agreement between the European Parliament and the Council on 9 December 2008 and within the European Council on 11 December 2008, the European Parliament, on 17 December 2008, has adopted by a large majority (685 against 25) the Renewables Directive. This important piece of legislation provides necessary tools to increase the use of renewables within the energy system. The so-called 20-20-20 EU policy by 2020 contains:
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Thu, 2007-11-15 08:30
Removing bottlenecks to allow free trade
Enhancing the European transmission grid is important for three closely interwoven reasons:
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To allow power transport to compensate for the intermittent output of renewable energy systems
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To enable free trade in electrical power within the EU
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To ensure a continuous power supply throughout the EU
In spite of the importance of these changes, grid enhancement is progressing very slowly. There are several reasons for this. First, current European regulations do not allow Transmission System Operators to build up the necessary investment capital to undertake large scale infrastructure works. Second, the environmental impact assessments of overhead lines take a great deal of time. The European landscape is already densely built, so it is normal that each new construction project must be thoroughly investigated regarding its necessity.
While many involved parties have recently been urging faster grid enhancement, this does not mean that no progress is being made at all.
New cross-border transmission lines
This month, the new 700 MW subsea interconnector between Norway and the Netherlands will be inaugurated.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Thu, 2007-04-19 07:30
An interview in the EU Energy Law Newsletter
In an interview on 29th March 2007 in the EU Energy Law Newsletter (Claeys & Casteels Publishing), Commissioner Andris Piebalgs threw some light on the main challenges facing the European energy market in the coming decades.
According to Piebalgs, one of the main priorities is the creation of genuine European-wide cross-border competition for electricity. He thinks courageous decisions will be necessary for both ownership unbundling and to facilitate cross-border trade.
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