European Electricity Grid - Status and Perspective

D. Maillard

There is no doubt about the need to expand and modernize the European electricity grid, especially in order to allow renewable energies to be fed stochastically into existing systems. As it is hardly possible at the present time and also in the near future to store electricity on a major scale and at adequate prices, electricity must be transmitted from the point of generation to the point of consumption directly and in real time. The development of grid systems, including cross-border transmission systems, is still behind expectations.

This is not due to a shortage of projects or a lack of interest on the part of grid operators; the necessary political support is available as well, and investments at present are covered by the feed tariffs. The problem is the lack of acceptance. It is difficult to obtain new permits or commission new grids. This problem of the licensing authorities often results in considerable delays.

Consequently, it is up to the grid operators to handle this situation and promote new, intelligent grid systems in an effort to achieve acceptance of a technical-scale infrastructure. This includes transparency in grid expansion, exchange with the public in order to reach mutual understanding and trust and also find compromises as well as the willingness to discuss various approaches to solutions (underground routing, upgrading of existing grid systems, smart systems, and intelligent designs so as to optimize the use of the existing infrastructure.