ENTSO-EThe role of electricity is increasing in importance in meeting the EU’s climate and energy policy objectives. In all future policy scenarios the management of ever increasing large scale deployment of renewable sources of electricity and low carbon technologies on the pan European power system is the critical challenge. Integrating these in an economically efficient manner, while maintaining the reliability and resilience of the power system, is central to achieving the policy goals including affordable, reliable, secure and sustainable energy for all EU citizens and industry.
The Green Paper from the European Commission “A 2030 framework for climate and energy policies” is particularly clear on the importance of these issues, and depicts the difficulty of tackling these global problems.
ENTSO-E and its member TSO’s believe that our responsibilities as system operators, planners and developers, coupled to our focus to continuously challenge our technical capabilities aligned with our independent position in the industry place us at the heart of the solution to these problems and make us a key partner in successfully delivering on the climate and energy policy objectives.
In particular our role as network planners is central to the build out of the necessary grid, interconnection and network. In this regard, the Green Paper acknowledges the importance of the pan-European Transmission network. The roll out of the necessary network infrastructure in a timely manner is a core fundamental to underwriting the economic competitiveness of the EU and the security of supply of electricity for its citizens. But to reach this objective there needs to be a combined effort by policy makers, legislators, regulators and TSOs.
However, as important, is our role as system operators in understanding and mastering the technical challenges in operating the power system with a transformational level of renewable sources of energy and low carbon technologies. The scale of this should not be under estimated. It is only by understanding the aggregate impact of the large scale deployment of RES-E resources can the resilience and reliability of the pan European power system be maintained.
Intimately linked with system operation is the internal energy market. ENTSO-E strongly advocates the full and speedy implementation of the Target Model. This is a first necessary step in delivering for the end consumer on the efficiencies arising from trade that the pan-European power system offers. However the target model as designed may not be sufficient to economically deliver the range of policy objectives required, especially high RES-E. There is a clear need to examine what is required in addition to the internal market and this needs to pragmatically reflect these aggregate technical challenges. ENTSO-E’s expertise is critical in this endeavor.
In conclusion, ENTSO-E has to continually challenge itself in understanding and mastering these evolving technical challenges. However these aggregate constraints are not only relevant to the technical issues but are at the heart of the efficacy of meeting the policy objective in the first place. In this regard ENTSO-E is already analysing, identifying and synthesizing solutions that reach the boundaries of power system capability that meeting the challenges that evolving energy policy requires. Already there is relevant information to be taken into consideration in formulating 2030 policy objectives.
ENTSO-E is open to active engagement with policy makers, in informing future policy, and as importantly regulators, in the design of appropriate market incentives to deliver on the policy objectives in an efficient, economical, sustainable and secure manner for all EU citizens.