Powering Europe - European Wind Energy Association
Powering Europe - European Wind Energy Association
Powering Europe - European Wind Energy Association
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SUmmary<br />
Upgrading the <strong>Europe</strong>an network infrastructure at<br />
transmission and distribution level is not only vital<br />
for the functioning of the emerging single electricity<br />
market in <strong>Europe</strong>, but is also a fundamental step on<br />
the way to large-scale wind power integration. Better<br />
interconnected networks bring great benefits for distributed<br />
renewable power by aggregating dispersed<br />
(uncorrelated) generation, which leads to continental<br />
smoothing, greater predictability and an increased capacity<br />
credit.<br />
Significant barriers to a truly pan-<strong>Europe</strong>an grid include<br />
the public’s reluctance to accept new transmission<br />
lines (causing very long lead times), high costs<br />
and financing needs and the absence of proper cost<br />
recovery methods for multi-state lines.<br />
chApTEr 4 Upgradingelectricitynetworks–challengesandsolutions<br />
Expanding and reinforcing the <strong>Europe</strong>an transmission<br />
grid will help wind reach higher penetration levels,<br />
and in a scenario with substantial amounts of wind<br />
power, the additional costs of wind power (higher installed<br />
costs, increased balancing, and network upgrade)<br />
could be outweighed by the benefits, depending<br />
on the cost of conventional fossil fuels. The expected<br />
continuing decrease in wind power generation costs<br />
is an important factor. The economic benefits of wind<br />
become larger when the social, health and environmental<br />
benefits of CO2 emission reductions are taken<br />
into account. <strong>Europe</strong>an studies like Trade<strong>Wind</strong> and<br />
EWIS have quantified the large benefits of increasing<br />
interconnection capacities for all grid users, and have<br />
identified specific grid corridors that can be reinforced<br />
to support the implementation of large-scale wind<br />
power in <strong>Europe</strong>. For its 2030 wind and transmission<br />
117<br />
Photo: iStock
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