European Commission proposes trans-European electric transmission development plan

In major economies transmission is the enabler for getting electric power to electric distribution companies, for creating a single market for electric power and for integrating major sources of renewable energy.  

Two persistent issues have held up development of new trasmission lines, planning and cost allocation. In the US in June, 2010 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) on Transmission Planning and Cost Allocation by Transmission Owning and Operating Public Utilities, which began the process of addressing these issues from a regulatory perspective.  FERC recently issued Order 1000, which is designed to address transmisssion planning and cost allocation.

The European Commission (EC) has recently issued a Proposal for a Regulation on Guidelines for Trans-European Energy Infrastructure.  The objective of the new regulation is the full integration of the EU energy market to ensure that no Member State is isolated from the European network, help the EU achieve its 20-20-20 energy and climate targets by 2020, and ensure security of supply.

The initiative identifies trans-European priority corridors and areas covering electricity and gas networks as well as oil and carbon dioxide transport infrastructure. It also proposes several measures to facilitate the development of transmission lines

• streamlining permit granting procedures to speed up the regulatory and public review process
• allocating costs depending on the benefits provided and ensuring allowed returns are in line with risks incurred
• providing direct EU financial support under the "Connecting Europe Facility", a €50 billion fund to improve Europe's transport, energy and digital networks

The  EC estimates that the total investment required for EU energy infrastructure from now to 2020 at about € 200 billion;

• €140 billion for high voltage electricity transmission systems, both onshore and offshore, storage, and smart grid applications at transmission and distribution level
• € 70 billion for high pressure gas transmission pipelines (coming into the EU and between EU Member states), storage, liquefied/compressed natural gas (LNG/CNG) terminals and reverse flow infrastructure
• € 2.5 billion for carbon dioxide transport infrastructure

Energy infrastructure will be prioritized because energy networks are a precondition for reaching the 2020 energy and climate targets. The main obstacles that have been identified that will hinder putting this infrastructure in place are protracted permit granting procedures, conflicting Member State regulations and financing.  Not that different from the issues facing the US, except for one big difference.  In the US there is no federally mandated organization responsible for planning a national transmission grid.

Priority Electricity Corridors

Northern Seas offshore grid (“NSOG”)

Member States concerned: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom

North-South electricity interconnections in Western Europe (“NSI West Electricity”)

Member States concerned: Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Malta, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom

North-South  electricity interconnections in Central Eastern and South EasternEurope ("NSI East Electricity")

Member States concerned: Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia

Baltic Energy Market Interconnection Plan in  electricity ("BEMIP Electricity")

Member States concerned: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden