EURELECTRIC Conference
RENEWABLE ENERGY 2020: Opportunities and Challenges
7-8 May 2009, Hotel
Radisson Royal SAS, Brussels
Session IV – ROUND TABLE:
RES technologies, grids and business: challenges and opportunities
For the round table discussion chaired by David Porter,
Wilhelm Winter, Frans Van Huille, Claes Hedenstrom and Holger Gassner were
joined by Tom Howes, policy officer in the European Commission’s unit for
Regulatory Policy and Promotion of Renewable Energy, Charles Nielsen,
Director for Research and Development at DONG Energy and Chairman of
EURELECTRIC Working Group on Renewables and Gunnar Lundberg,
Vice-President responsible for Regulatory Affairs at Vattenfall AB and
Chairman of the EURELECTRIC Markets Committee.
To feed into the debate, a number of questions were put
to the conference audience:
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Asked whether the cooperation mechanisms provided by the Renewables
Directive would play a significant role in RES development in the coming
years, a slight majority expressed pessimism.
Mr Howes was more optimistic. “When the Member State governments start to write down what they need to do in their National Action Plans, they will realise that they need the cooperation mechanism,” he predicted. The NAP template is quite detailed and it will force the governments to “think hard and think in detail”. A series of meetings between the Commission and Member States is being scheduled for the autumn, he told the audience.
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Asked to identify the most serious barrier to meeting the 2020 RES target, the audience did not see any problem with energy resources or availability of technology, whereas
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Some 40% pointed to problems with authorisation and licensing
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Some 40% saw grid access as the most serious challenge
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Around 20% felt that lack of money and insufficient support or poor working of the cooperation mechanism would be crucial
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Asked whether the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) or fixed RES
targets would survive longer in EU energy policy, there was a clear
majority in favour of the ETS.
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Asked what will hold back the EU from reaching the 2020 RES target:
Mr Howes identified administrative barriers, grid-development and also grid integration of RES.
Tom Howes - Videoclip
Mr Gassner said that extending the grids would be a crucial factor and this would encounter local opposition – the “large and often underrated ‘NIMBY effect’ “
Holger Gassner - Videoclip
Mr Nielsen said that we need to change our understanding of things from a “fossil to a renewables mindset”. We need to “think of new applications of electricity,” he argued.
Charles Nielsen- Videoclip
Mr Lundberg pointed out that many countries have reduced barriers to authorisation of wind parks but not of the transmission lines that will be needed to transport the RES-electricity. “We run the risk that the generation will be there long before the lines,” he warned.
Gunnar Lundberg- Videoclip
Mr Winter agreed, pointing out that RES-power began as a phenomenon affecting only
the distribution system and only has gradually started to impact on transmission.
Wilhelm Winter- Videoclip
Summing up at the close of the first day, EURELECTRIC Secretary-General Hans ten Berge said he
was impressed to see how companies are developing on the RES front. The technology is undergoing steady improvement and there seem to be no major issues there. However he questioned once again the EU policymakers’ decision to maintain 27 different national systems for RES-support. We should be working for an integrated European electricity market – both on the basic principle of developing a competitive system and also for facilitating wider development of RES-power and smoothing out local fluctuations in available windpower. We must “focus on having a stable environment for RES development,” and it is “likely that the ETS will play a strong role here as emissions permits are auctioned after 2013,” he said. However, a big question here is: will the grids be built in timely fashion? Assuming the transmission system operators are moving forward on this, the permitting and financing issues will be crucial.
Mr ten Berge argued that “we need a regional pilot project to show how an integrated RES-market could work”, and called for volunteers to get one up and running.
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