Powering Europe - European Wind Energy Association

transportation of power from generators to consumers.
More flexibility, new technology and grid management
concepts also need to be introduced to prepare
the power systems for future distributed and variable
generation. In the debate about future networks, two
concepts are omnipresent: the Supergrid and Smart
Grids. Although these terms do not have a fixed definition,
their widespread use testifies to a consensus
that network upgrades are generally expected to be
take the form of a highway-type interconnection (Supergrid)
with more communication and intelligence
(Smart grids), properties that are certainly advantageous
to large-scale integration of wind power. Another
major driver for grid upgrades is the emerging internal
electricity market (IEM) in Europe, requiring sufficient
transport capacities between regions and nations to
enable effective competition in the power market to
the benefit of European consumers.
In its first edition of the Ten Year Network Development
Plan [ENTSO-E, 2010], the transmission system
operators, ENTSO-E, estimated the required expansion
of the network – focusing on lines of European
interest – for the years up to 2020, quantifying the
drivers in terms of system security (SoS), renewables
(RES) and electricity markets (IEM).
fiGURE 1: Main DRiVERs foR inVEstMEnt in nEw oR REfURbishED
PowER linEs (PRoJECts of EURoPEan siGnifiCanCE)
[Entso-E, 2010]
Driven by
RES
20,000 km
Driven by
SoS
26,000 km
Driven by
IEM
28,500 km
chApTEr 4 Upgradingelectricitynetworks–challengesandsolutions
In addition to the upgraded and new network infrastructure,
a proper legal framework is needed, so the
capacity can be fully exploited. At European level, two
major initiatives contain basic elements of such a
framework:
• The European Renewable Energy Directive (2009)
stipulates that national governments and TSOs
should guarantee renewables sufficient transmission
capacity and fair access to the transmission
network.
• The mandatory ownership unbundling of generation
and transmission as required by the proposed third
Liberalisation Package (2008) should provide the legal
basis to guarantee a level playing field with other
generators.
In practice, carrying out the required network upgrades,
especially building new lines, is a very lengthy process.
Therefore, and because of the difference in speed between
wind power development and transmission development,
fair access rules are needed for the majority
of instances where power lines are shared between
wind energy and other power generators. Uniform rules
do not yet exist at European level, and grid access for
wind energy is currently conducted in a rather ad-hoc
way. Some countries such as Germany and Spain take
the recommendation from the 2009 RES Directive into
account, and grant priority access to wind power to a
certain extent. In practice, in cases where available
grid capacity is limited, the principle of ‘connect and
manage’ is often followed. At distribution level it is often
‘fit and forget’. The wide range of different times
taken to obtain a grid connection permit for a wind farm
in the different EU countries (as identified in the 2010
WindBarriers project) reflects the lack of consistency
between national policies in Europe in dealing with the
issue of joint planning for new (renewable) generation
and for network expansion.
Adapting the transmission infrastructure to uncertain
future needs is a complex process that is subject to
strategic planning, and includes the following steps:
• Short term: optimisation of the utilisation of the
transmission network
• Mid- and long term: creation of Europe-wide onshore
and offshore grids
97