Energy market design is a top priority not only in Europe but also around the world, as international markets face the same challenges as those being faced by the European Union, Dominique Ristori, Director General at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Energy, said in his keynote address at the SET-Plan Conference in Luxembourg on September 21.
Ristori said that the European energy system was changing fast and this change touched all aspects of the system, including the electricity sector. He noted that, as the majority of investment in new power plants was currently dedicated to renewables, it would be crucial to design a set of new rules to ensure the stabilisation of the grid and also to manage flexibility and demand response and to use storage more fully.
Ristori said that the Commission had presented a new Communication in July launching the public consultation process on a new market design, the aim of which was to prepare a new set of common rules for the internal market, to keep in step with the evolution of the energy system.
The need for the energy market to be adaptable to change was also something touched upon by Professor Catherine Mitchel from the University of Exeter in the UK in her address to the conference. Mitchel said that the changing energy system would require all system stakeholders to adopt a new mind-set. She noted that changes on the energy market would also offer real opportunities for improvements, and that the SET-Plan should stand firm behind these opportunities, as change would not happen unless there is effective governance.
Tom Eischen, Director General at the Directorate General for Energy also noted the rapid pace of change in the energy system. He also highlighted other trends, such as the electrification of the transport system, the increased importance of ICT in all segments of the energy sector, and huge developments in storage, which are adding flexibility to the energy system. The Director General stressed that these trends would require all stakeholders, including producers and regulators, to come together to organize this change in a concerted manner.
Philippe Rosier, President of the Acetow Global Business Unit at Solvay, injected a note of caution, warning that there could be no rapid energy system transformation without the materials and solutions that the chemical and upstream industries can bring. Consequently, he stressed the importance of integrating these stakeholders into the energy transformation process at an early stage.
Rosier said that, to have an efficient SET-Plan, the full value chain needs to be taken into consideration. He said that there could not be an effective SET-Plan without competitive energy in Europe. Industry is energy intensive, even if it is efficient, he said, adding that for industry to be competitive it needs competitively priced energy.
EDP CEO Inovacao Antonio Vidigalm also noted the rapid pace of innovation in the electricity sector, which is changing the value chain paradigm and influencing the role of stakeholders. He said that innovation cuts cross all aspects of energy strategy and is at the heart of energy union. In light of the key role played by innovation in the transformation of the energy system, new investment is needed at all stages of the innovation chain, he said.
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