The energy system in the European Union is on the verge of a revolution, with major changes in the way electricity is produced, transmitted and used, EU Commissioner for Climate Action & Energy Miguel Arias Cañete said at the InoGrid2020+ annual conference in Brussels.
Referring to the European Commission’s vision for an Energy Union, which aims to create a market that works for consumers, make the EU the world’s leader in renewables and underpin Europe’s energy security, the Commissioner stressed that innovative smart grids were central to this vision.
The central role of smart grids was something also touched upon Giovanni De Santi, Director of the Joint Research Centre’s Institute for Energy and Transport. Speaking on the second day of the conference, De Santi said that Energy Union looks upon smart electricity grids as a key enabler for the proper integration of intermittent renewable energy sources into a fully integrated energy market.
While stressing their key role, the Climate Action & Energy Commissioner warned that a number of regulatory, technological, financial and organisational hurdles needed to be overcome to allow smart grids to keep energy flowing where and when it is needed, make the best use of renewable energy sources and keep energy bills down. The Commissioner stressed that smart policies, smart technology research and innovation and smart financing would be needed to create the required market flexibility for projects to get off the ground and for new technologies to reach the market.
To address the need for smart policies, the Commissioner said that, as part of the Energy Union package, he would put forward proposals for a new electricity market design that was better adapted to energy transition and allowed the flexibility required on both the supply and demand sides to better integrate renewables.
With regard to the new technologies needed to facilitate the transition of the grid, De Santi said that the JRC would continue working to improve the data, analysis and intelligence needed to underpin Energy Union by pooling the relevant knowledge and making it easily accessible to all stakeholders.
Finally, with regard to the investment required to transform the energy sector, the Climate Action & Energy Commissioner said that EUR 3.15 billion had been invested in more than 450 smart grid projects since 2002. However, he warned that this fell very short of requirements and that investment of around EUR 400 billion would be required by 2020 to modernise electricity transmission and distribution grids.
The Commissioner said that public funding could only go so far, and that if these goals are to be achieved, existing funding would have to be used to leverage private finance. Here, he said that the Investment Plan of European Commission President Jean-Claude Junker and the European Fund for Strategic Investments would play an important role. Energy projects will benefit from much of the EUR 315 billion of public and private investments that the Investment Plan will unlock over the next three years, the Commissioner said, adding that this would help accelerate infrastructure projects and investment in energy efficiency, research and the better integration of renewables into the market.
In her address to the conference, Marie Donnelley from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy noted that one serious limitation in Europe is its lack of capacity to take innovative developments through to the marketplace. Like Commissioner Arias Cañete, Mrs Donnelly noted the need to overcome financial barriers. However, she stressed that money shouldn’t be a limitation. “There is a lot of it around and it needs to be mobilised,” she said. She also noted that there are a number of behavioural limitations that need to be overcome, both on the part of consumers and on the part of actors in the energy system, and that a systemic, collective approach would be required to bring innovation into the marketplace.
Speaking on the second day of the conference, European Commission Vice President and Commissioner for Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič also noted the revolutionary changes underway in the European energy system, saying that Europe was undergoing a profound energy transition to a low-carbon economy with renewables at its forefront. Commissioner Šefčovič stressed the central role that smart grids would play in this process.
The Commissioner expressed the hope that smart grids would do for the European economy what shale gas has done in the United States. He said that grids would play a key role in the changing energy landscape and stressed that new smart technologies should be incorporated at transmission and distribution levels so that the grid can respond to the new challenges, introduce flexibility, and incorporate a growing share of renewables, some of which are variable.
To achieve this, the Commissioner said that it would be necessary to have a new market design and that interoperability of solutions would be critical. He said that it would also be necessary to look at standards concerning security and to ensure that national regulatory frameworks incentivise investment in innovative solutions. Finally, with regard to these solutions, the Commissioner said that a major focus on research and innovation would be required.
In conclusion, the Commissioner said that, as Vice President for Energy Union, he would work closely not only with Commissioner Arias Cañete to deliver on the new energy system, but also with other Commissioners on issues related to the digital dimension of Energy Union, transport and competition. He said that by the end of the year, the Commission would publish a State of the Energy Union report which would provide an overview of the current situation and that, from next year, concrete legislation proposals would start to appear.
For more information:
http://www.edsoforsmartgrids.eu/4th-annual-innogrid2020-rd-conference/