The North Seas Countries' Offshore Grid Initiative - Initial ... - Benelux

There is a large increase in gross exports for France, Ireland, Netherlands and
especially Germany. These are countries that have large amounts of cheaper
generation such as hard coal, lignite, nuclear and wind generation, which the
additional interconnections allow to be exported. For example, Germany has large
amounts of hard coal and lignite generation. In the case of Ireland, the increase in
gross exports is from wind generation that was previously curtailed but which can
now be exported.
As for the export balance, Great Britain, Belgium and to a lesser extent Ireland
have the biggest increases in net imports, while Germany, France and the
Netherlands see the largest increases in net exports.
5.1.4.5 CO2 Emissions
Figure 5-15 shows the changes in the CO emissions at each market node as a result of
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the additional interconnections in the 2030 radial and meshed grid expansions strategies.
As previously mentioned, the fuel and CO emission prices employed in the study result in
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hard coal and lignite generators generally being cheaper than gas generators. The
additional interconnection capacity in the 2030 grid design facilitates better utilisation of
cheaper generating resources, including the coal and lignite fired generators.
Consequently there is an increase in the CO emissions of countries with significant coal
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generation such as Germany and the Netherlands. This increase is offset by a decrease in
CO emissions mainly in Belgium, Great Britain and Ireland. There is very little change in
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CO emissions for the NSCOGI region as a whole. This is mainly caused by the decrease of
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the net export of the region as a whole.
Figure 5-15 Difference in the CO emissions by NSCOGI country for the Reference Scenario in 2030,
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between the Grid2030 Radial case and the Grid2020 case, and between the Grid2030 Meshed case and the
Grid2020 case
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