electricity: levelling the renewables playing field

42 renewable energy focus September/October 200842 renewable energy focus September/October 2008

Electricity: levelling the renewables playing fi eldGONE ARE THE DAYS WHEN GENERATING RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY WAS

SOMETHING OF A COTTAGE INDUSTRY 100GW+ OF INSTALLED WIND

CAPACITY WORLDWIDE PROVES THIS. A PARADIGM SHIFT HAS OCCURRED,

LEADING TO A GREATER CHALLENGE; WHAT DOES AN ELECTRICITY

STRUCTURE WHICH SEAMLESSLY INCORPORATES MULTIPLE SOURCES OF

GENERATING TECHNOLOGY LOOK LIKE, AND CRUCIALLY HOW CAN IT BE

ACHIEVED? POLLY HIGGINS LOOKS AT LIBERALISATION, LONG DISTANCE

TRANSMISSION, HVDC AND SUPERGRIDS.

As we attempt to encourage widespread adop-

tion of low carbon energy sources, renewables

practitioners are pretty much as one in saying

it is vital to speed up the implementation of

resource and requirement-appropriate elec-

tricity grids. Business as usual, which tips it hat

in favour of the large, conventional power

monopolies, is no longer an option, if renew-

able energy targets are to be met.

For Europe, that means some major changes

ahead: the way we generate electricity, new

customer requirements, and new technology

opportunities. We fundamentally need to

change our ageing transmission grids and

electricity networks to embrace a trans-national

smart grid, able to accommodate clean energy

sourced from locations ranging from wind in

Northern Europe, to concentrating solar power

farms in the Sahara. Some of this power will be

from intermittent sources (wind), some not

(heat storage can be used for CSP) and power

should be able to be fed back to the grid. This

is contrary to the situation at present, as the

fl ow is largely unidirectional – from the power

station down to the user.

A growing consensus is gaining momentum at

Brussels level: in addition to the adoption of

large scale low carbon energy resources, home

generated electricity from microgeneration will

also become the norm, with the surplus sold to

the grid. Other demands on the grid will evolve,

such as the use of electric cars plugged in over-

night to recharge.

Our grids will need to accommodate these

varied, complex and fl uctuating loads.

Supergrid of the future

Electricity networks across the EU are 40 years

old (or more) and fast approaching the end of

their design lives. Many national grids require

substantial investment in updating, with the

replacement and interconnection of networks.

Rather than opting for simple replacement,

now is the time for fresh thinking and innova-

tion. We need smart grid design, with the most

up to date communications’ technologies to

embrace the new challenges and exciting

opportunities ahead.

Variable renewable energy output must inevi-

tably be supplemented by reserve capacity,

storage or increased trade with adjacent areas.

Future electricity markets and networks will

need to provide consumers with a highly reli-

able, flexible, and accessible power supply.

Thus, the use of both large centralised genera-

tors and smaller distributed power sources

across Europe must be fully exploited. All this

and more is the vision of the future – a future

that will be with us very soon.

Ten years ago the EU opened its energy

markets, but until now its journey has been

ponderous and largely unsuccessful,

resulting in a mixed bag. Many member

state markets are still dominated by large

state-owned or private monopoly enter-

prises. This has prevented new suppliers

from successfully entering the market, and

discouraged investment. To make it work,

full liberalisation of the market is required.

We need to separate networks from supply,

give new traders non-discriminatory access

to the market, and facilitate cross-border

energy trade.

Winds of change

But have we got what it takes to make this

happen? Until now there’s been a lot of talk,

but little decisive action. If you look closely,

however, you will notice that the winds of

change have recently shifted direction. The

pro-liberalisation camp has strategically

advanced, and plans are afoot to make this all

happen.

On 18 June 2008, the European Parliament

took a decisive stance. In a move supported

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renewable energy focus September/October 2008 43

Electricity/Infrastructure


by the renewable energy industry and led by

the Industry Committee, provisions will now

be adopted in support of full ownership

unbundling in the electricity market.

According to the verdict from Brussels, the

separation of vertically-integrated power

companies’ generation assets from their trans-

mission networks will now proceed. The high

number of votes demonstrated the strength of

the European Parliament’s support for a prop-

erly liberalised energy market and a level

playing fi eld for renewables. Just as the tele-

communications sector has been successfully

liberalised, so now will the energy sector, with

Brussels set to clear the obstacles that interfere

with the fl ow of energy – and choice – across

the continent.

“Allowing power generation companies to own

the transmission grid makes no more sense

than allowing an airline company to own the

sky,” said Christian Kjaer, chief executive of the

European Wind Energy Association (EWEA).

“The European Parliament has shown its

commitment to fair access to the electricity

grids, which is essential if the EU is ever to

attain eff ective competition in the power

market while meeting its objective of 20%

renewable energy by 2020.”

Transparency, accountability and accessibility.

These are three buzzwords merrily bandied

around by Members of Parliament in support

of liberalisation of the electricity sector. There

will be transparency of network rules and

codes, which will apply to all grid participants,

and accountability will be required of the

new Agency for the Cooperation of Energy

Regulators (ACER).

In practice, the director of ACER will be subject to

a vote of approval by the European Parliament

and will have strong decision making capabilities,

not merely an advisory role. The director will be

required to report back regularly to the Parlia-

ment on the agency’s performance. In addition,

accessibility of information will facilitate easy eval-

uation of consumption data while the ability to

change supplier should bolster consumer protec-

tion measures.

Further measures

With climate change in mind, MEPs also

authorised national authorities to require

system operators “to give priority to gener-

ating installations using renewable energy

sources or waste or producing combined

heat and power” – except when the safety

and reliability of the grid are compromised.

However, some EU countries are currently

attempting to have the “priority” grid access

wording removed from the EU draft renew-

able energy directive.

In addition, national authorities are to work

together to integrate their national markets

“at least at one or more regional levels”, the

Industry Committee decided. This would be

the ”first and intermediate step towards a

fully liberalised common European market”.

A concerted effort is also to be made

towards integrating the EU’s “electricity

islands”.

These are all provisions with teeth.

The visionaries

For some time, many clever people from

research institutes, universities, industry, regu-

lators and utilities have been trying to deter-

mine what the future will require. With the

European Parliament’s move towards unbun-

dling, the stage is set for the roll-out of a

Europe-wide liberalised energy sector. This

would embrace a smart grid to facilitate the

fl ow of cross-border low carbon energy from

various sources.



44 renewable energy focus September/October 2008

New alliance –Union for the Mediterranean (UMed)

But there is more: expansion of the energy

sector across the Mediterranean is now less

than a decade away. On 13 July 2008, with the

arrival of the EU French presidency, a Mediter-

ranean Union was formally endorsed,

promoting regional co-operation between the

EU and developing nations in North Africa

bordering the Mediterranean. Touted as a

multilateral relationship, this union will build

on the existing Euro-Med free trade area,

increase co-ownership of the process and

making it more visible to citizens.

Named the “Barcelona Process: Union for the

Mediterranean (UMed)”, it encompasses all 27

EU Member States and the European Commis-

sion, together with other members and

observers of the Barcelona Process (Mauritania,

Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Pales-

tinian Authority, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey

and Albania), as well as other Mediterranean

coastal states (Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina

and Monaco).

UMed has opened the door to the fl ow of energy

supplies between the countries bordering onto

the Mediterranean basin and Europe. It is antici-

pated that grid interconnections will be in place

between Member States of the EU before 2020,

facilitating connection of low carbon energy

sources across the Mediterranean basin, from

North Africa and further afi eld.

An old idea

The idea is not new. In the 1970s, Buckminster

Fuller envisioned an interconnected global

grid linked to renewable resources.

For the past 22 years the Global Energy

Network Institute (GENI) has investigated his

proposal for a global electric energy grid. GENI

has conducted research on the viability of the

interconnection of electric power networks

between nations and continents, with an

emphasis on tapping abundant renewable

energy resources. Its research serves to under-

line the potential benefi ts: ideally, linking

renewables among all nations will dampen

down confl icts, grow economies and increase

the quality of life and health for all.

Like Copernicus, Buckminster Fuller was ridi-

culed by some for his expansive vision.

However, technological development now

moves power further and more cheaply than

30 years ago, just as he envisioned it would.

For example, when Fuller fi rst put forth his

vision, electric power could only be effi ciently

transmitted a few hundred kilometres.

Since then, breakthroughs in materials science

have extended this transmission distance to

2500 kilometres, and Direct Current (DC) lines

are now able to reach over 7000 km. This

allows utilities to interconnect across time

zones and compensate for variations in

seasonal demand.

Today about 2% of all electricity is trans-

mitted along HVDC lines, in more than 90

projects around the world, linking large

energy projects to centres of high energy

demand.

Most networks are historically predicated on

Alternating Current systems (AC), which were

chosen over 100 years ago because it was

easier then to transform AC supply than DC

supply. Now, with the development of high-

voltage valves, it has become possible to

transmit DC power at higher voltages and over

longer distances with lower transmission

losses.

Research by the International Energy Agency,

as set out in its recent report, Energy Tech-

nology Perspectives 2008 – Scenarios and

Strategies to 2050, supports the use of DC

transmission systems. With losses typically

around 3% per 1000 km, it makes economic

sense for long-distance and sub-sea trans-

portation. In the case of wind electricity, the

IEA estimates that transportation over 2000

km would add US$0.02-US$0.03 per kWh. To

connect across the Mediterranean basin

“Allowing power generation companies to own the transmission grid makes no more sense than allowing an airline company to own the sky”: Christian Kjaer, chief executive, EWEA.




would require only 400km-600km, depending

on where the links were positioned. In

theory, an HVDC line could be laid from

Morocco to London, a distance of 2700 km,

with losses of less than 8%.

New impetus

Even in early 2008, interconnection between

Europe and other continents was deemed an

audacious idea – except by TREC UK (Trans

Mediterranean Renewable Energy Co-opera-

tion).

For the past five years, TREC, an initiative of

the Club of Rome, has promoted the

DESERTEC concept of building Concen-

trating Solar Power (CSP) plants out in the

Sahara desert – to provide clean renewable

electricity. Now TREC has successfully

advanced the concept of a renewable energy

transmission network combining CSP with

wind farms and other renewables to transmit

power to Europe from the Middle East and

North Africa, via high voltage direct current

(HVDC) cables across the Mediterranean.

The newly formed UMed, which has been

backed by, among others, France, Germany

and the UK, is now prepared to take such

thinking forward.

UMed is planning the construction of a €45

billion high voltage direct current (DC) grid to

transfer electricity produced by Saharan and

North African solar installations to consumers

thousands of kilometres away. The Project

Proposal is called the Mediterranean Solar Plan

(Med Solar).

Med Solar Plan

Key objectives of the Med Solar Plan are to

expand the integration of energy markets and

promote sustainable development through the

creation and development of a solar market.

It is proposed that key skills will be shared, and

market players from the EU will help facilitate

such a development, with the long-term aim

of importing solar electricity into the EU.

The Med Solar Plan is expected to ensure a

multilateral mobilisation of the relevant polit-

ical authorities, institutions and fi nancial

sectors. Recognising that energy policy in

developing nations is still piecemeal at best, it

proposes that the European Commission will

promote the framework for the necessary

dialogue on the energy policies and sectoral

strategies that must be implemented by the

various countries. It will build on the estab-

lished work of existing initiatives such as the

Euro-Mediterranean Energy Market Integration

Project. This will include the building of HVDC

grid connections across the Mediterranean

basin.

The Med Solar Plan aims to have in place

20,000 MW of CSP in North Africa by 2020.

Estela Solar, the European Solar Thermal Elec-

tricity Association, estimates that a further

36,000 MW of CSP will be online in Southern

Europe by 2020.

If the projected annual growth rate of CSP

through 2012 is maintained to 2020, says the

Earth Policy Institute, global installed CSP capacity

will exceed 200,000 MW – equivalent to 135 coal-

fi red power plants. With billions of dollars begin-

ning to fl ow into the CSP industry, and restrictions

on carbon emissions imminent, CSP is primed to

reach such capacity.

Encouragingly, the Med Solar Plan has even

been backed by UK Prime Minister Gordon

Brown. Speaking recently at the inaugural



46 renewable energy focus September/October 2008

meeting of UMed in Paris, he said “...in the Medi-

terranean region, concentrated solar power

off ers the prospect of an abundant low carbon

energy source. Indeed, just as Britain’s North

Sea could be the Gulf of the future for off shore

wind, so those sunnier countries represented

here could become a vital source of future

global energy by harnessing the power of the

sun. So I am delighted that the EU is commit-

ting at this summit to work with its neighbours

– including Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and the

League of Arab States – to explore the develop-

ment of a new ‘Mediterranean Solar Plan’ for the

development and deployment of this vital tech-

nology from the Sahara northwards”.

Wind supergrid

Compare this with wind: If the present 27%

annual growth rate of installed wind power

capacity is maintained (100,000 MW having

been reached in March of 2008), total capacity

in 2020 will hit 2,000,000 MW.

With their enormous growth potential, wind

and solar will be foundation players in our

long-term future low carbon energy economy.

A supergrid would treat wind and solar (and

other renewables) as trans-national resources,

which would enable all participants to share in

the enormous energy potential, to everyone’s

advantage.

TREC has not been the only body to call for the

connection of renewable energy systems with a

supergrid. Airtricity has also presented proposals

to link in their off shore wind farms throughout

Europe via a high voltage sub sea transmission

network. They say it could ultimately cover the

Baltic Sea, North Sea, Irish Sea, the English

Channel, the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterra-

nean. With such a geographically extensive

range, fl uctuating availability becomes less of

an issue. By building wind farms in the seas

around Northern and Western Europe, as well as

areas of the Mediterranean, it would become

possible to harness the wind whenever it is

blowing and transform it into a stable source of

power, Airtricity claims.

Other high-profi le supporters include the EU’s

energy commissioner himself, Andris Piebalgs,

who has said a maritime grid infrastructure must

be developed quickly for the development of

off shore wind energy. Speaking at the European

Wind Energy Conference in 2008, the commis-

sioner said without the infrastructure no off shore

wind farms can be built: “As it is not yet in place,

it must be developed fairly quickly and a central

question is how it should be fi nanced”.

According to Piebalgs, the European Commis-

sion is looking to adopt an off shore wind

action plan by the end of this year. He said

that although member states have taken steps

forward to collaborate on off shore develop-

ment, there is scope for increased cooperation,

and he maintained that the EU could play an

important role in facilitating further joint

eff orts.

The commissioner said the creation of the pan-

European sub-sea energy grid, SUPERGRID,

should help the incorporation of large quanti-

ties of off shore wind into the European elec-

tricity market.

Practical realities: fi rst steps

On the legislative front, it can be said that

the necessary frameworks for a low carbon

renewable energy future are now starting to

shape up.

For example under the European Commis-

sion’s Seventh Framework Programme, the

European Commission has ring fenced €2.3

billion to fund a number of projects in smart

energy networks.

And collaborations such as that between the

New and Renewable Energy Centre (NaREC)

in the UK and CENER, National Renewable

Energy Centre of Spain – which are working

together to find new ways of generating and

distributing power from small-scale renewa-

bles within communities – will certainly help

focus attention on supply, and remove the

perception that technological challenges are

insurmountable (the one year project will

investigate ways to allow communities to

generate and use their own power from

renewable energy resources, in a reliable and

cost-effective way).

But it is still early days; the EU Renewable

Energy Directive is still being debated and may

yet provide some surprises (note the UK’s

recent – but so far unsuccessful – attempts to

exclude the mandatory requirement to imple-

ment priority access to the grid for microgen-

eration). The European Commission estimates

that EU Member States will need to invest in

excess of �750 billion in power infrastructure

over the next three decades, divided equally

between generation and networks (some €90

billion will be invested in transmission and

€300 billion in distribution networks). The EU

has yet to commit any major funds towards

such a massive upgrade or transformation of

the Bloc’s energy infrastructure. In addition,

the EU has yet to secure funding for a range of

”low carbon” technologies. That’s not to say it

can’t or won’t happen – it will. The question is:

can we do it fast enough?

About the author:Polly Higgins is a barrister and works for TREC UK. She can be contacted at [email protected].

A supergrid would treat wind and solar (and other renewables) as trans-national resources, which would enable all participants to share in the enormous energy potential, to everyone’s advantage, say supporters.


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electricity: levelling the renewables playing field

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