EU launches €9 billion energy infrastructure plan

The industry group Eurelectric hailed the new package as “the right step forward.” A statement by the association said: "Infrastructure is the backbone of the EU energy system. Investments urgently need to be directed towards it to allow Europe to complete the internal energy market, connect [remote] renewable generation, and enhance networks’ resilience and supply security."

"Eurelectric warmly welcomes the European Commission’s focus on infrastructure and appreciates its constructive and open approach to working out the regulation’s details, which allowed stakeholders to share their views, ultimately resulting in a broad consensus."

However the Green Party dismissed the package as “backward-looking” and skewed.  The group’s energy spokesman Claude Turmes said: “These proposals are seriously skewed in favour of gas pipe projects, like Nabucco, rather than future-oriented renewable energy infrastructure needs. The choices and investments we make in trans-European energy infrastructure will be crucial for determining the shape of our future energy market. It is therefore seriously regrettable that the Commission is looking backwards for our energy future by prioritising infrastructure for fossil fuels, rather than infrastructure that will help shift towards a renewables-based economy.”

On the other hand, an industrial alliance called the Friends of the Super Grid (FOSG) welcomed the new plan for allowing “the integration of large quantities of renewable energy across Europe and significant progress towards the creation of the internal electricity market.”

A statement put out by the group called on the European Parliament and European Council to adopt the core proposals in this regulation. “At a time of economic slowdown, this is the right moment to show political support for the development of new electricity infrastructure and to prepare for the integration of renewable energy into an open European market from 2020,” the message said.

FOSG’s CEO Ana Aguado said: “We welcome this Regulation as it represents major progress towards the creation of a European Supergrid. Supergrid will bring huge benefits to European consumers and its development will be a major stimulus to European economies. This Regulation needs to be accompanied by a common position across Member States to deliver an open market in electricity in this decade which will contribute to the delivery of a sustainable Europe by the mid-21st century”.

The renewable energy industry was more measured in its praise. "9.1 billion Euros of financial support from the EU budget for priority projects is substantially more money than was provided in the past", Christian Kjaer, the Chief Executive Officer of the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) said, referring to the Connecting Europe facility.  "Although it represents only a small proportion of the €200 billion the European Commission has estimated is needed for energy infrastructure improvements, it should, together with the proposal for Project Bonds, leverage significant additional private investments", he added.

For the Socialists and Democrats Group, Brian Simpson, the chair of the European Parliament's Transport and Tourism Committee, was pleased with the proposals for establishing the Connecting Europe Facility.

"I believe Parliament recognises the need to concentrate our resources on the core projects so that we can deliver European, not just national added value, to our infrastructure network", he said.

MEPs as co-legislators "will now examine closely, whether Parliament's priorities of easing congestion, of facilitating better cross border connections and of connecting all modes of transport together, have been taken account of", he added.

With regard to future negotiations with Council, he said: "Whether the Member States share the same political commitment as the European Parliament to deliver on these proposals is the great unknown question that only time will answer."

John Harris, the Vice President and Head of Governmental Affairs and Communications, for Landis+Gyr, an integrated energy management company, also lauded the Commission for its “drive to modernise Europe’s energy network and emphasized the importance of faster infrastructure development”.

He sent a statement to EurActiv saying: “Only through a substantial modernisation of our energy networks will we be able to meet the energy and environmental challenges facing Europe. Reaching the EU’s 2020 energy efficiency targets will only be possible if more innovation and intelligence is build into the system, and it is obvious that this is not happening quickly enough.”

“The success of the smart grid, and Europe’s energy network, is greatly dependent on the ability to make energy demand responsive. That depends on maximizing the intelligence put into the system now – where it needs it the most – from the substation to the point of consumption.  If the objective, as emphasized today, is to connect Europe and 'fill the missing links', let’s start immediately to empower consumers with the data they need to make energy-savvy choices.  As the Commission outlined, smart metering will be essential to achieve the foreseen savings in energy consumption, and afterall, smart metering addresses two of the areas at which these proposals are directed: energy and digital communications. The technology is ready but unless member states start the roll-out soon, we will miss the opportunity to reap the full benefits of this policy before 2020.”

The Council of the European Energy Regulators (CEER) was particularly impressed with the public oversight provisions foreseen for regulators. Lord Mogg, CEER’s President and Chair of ACER’s Board of Regulators, pointed to the central role of the Ten-Year Network Development Plan. “We need fully joined-up thinking on infrastructure planning,” he said.

“The (2009) 3rd Package already provides the tools to think European: the rolling Ten-Year Network Development Plans prepared every two years by the network operators and overseen by the national regulators and the Agency. A mix of both a bottom-up and top-down vision should be at the heart of the EU’s infrastructure proposal.”

He added that the “Ten-Year Network Development Plan should be a comprehensive list of projects that will deliver Europe’s energy goals. The list of European projects of common interest should be a subset of the TYNDP list (not separate from it) and be fully justified by cost-benefit analyses.”

ENTSO-E, the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity "warmly welcomed” the infrastructure plan. A statement by the operators said “The proposal addresses the most critical issues for the development of the electricity infrastructure required for Europe to meet its ambitious energy policy objectives: The benefits from streamlining permitting processes for priority infrastructure investments pave the way to meet those objectives. The proposed financing and regulatory instruments improve the overall context for delivering the necessary infrastructure on time.”

“ENTSO-E also supports the pragmatic approach to prioritise projects based on regional decision making as it involves all key actors (member states, regulators, TSOs). All this, under an EU framework whose consistency is ensured by the non-binding Union-wide Ten-Year Network Development Plan (TYNDP) with a central role as the main starting point for identifying projects of common interest.”