Powering the energy debate

What we do: acting on policy
Infrastructure proposals
In January, the European Commission allocated over €903 million to electricity interconnection
projects as part of its broader European Economic Recovery Plan. Nine projects
received funding, including the vital France-Spain interconnection.
In October, at a conference jointly organised by the Belgium EU Presidency and EWEA,
energy ministries and industry from North Seas countries agreed the importance of
developing offshore electricity infrastructure. In December, ministers from those countries
- Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands,
Norway, Sweden and the UK - signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the ‘North
Seas Countries’ Offshore Grid Initiative’. This will provide a framework for regional cooperation
to find common solutions to cross-country questions related to current and
future grid infrastructure developments in the North Seas.
Launched in November, EWEA’s report, ‘Powering Europe’, set out how the grid can integrate
increasing amounts of wind energy. The report argues there are no major technical
barriers – but there are major economic benefits - to integrating large amounts of fueland
pollution-free wind energy into Europe’s electricity grid. It identifies infrastructure
and markets as the two key barriers to hugely increasing the amount of wind power in
Europe’s electricity supply.
National Association Network (NAN)
In 2010 the NAN, with EWEA’s support, lobbied national ministries on the National
Renewable Energy Action Plans and organised meetings with members of the
European Parliament.
National associations in key emerging markets worked with EWEA on the
organisation and publicity for policy workshops.
The NANs also provided national statistics on wind power installations.