MEMO/07/11
Brussels, 10 January 2007
European electricity and gas networks: European Commission calls for urgent improvements As part of its Energy Policy for Europe, the Commission has sounded the alarm over the current state of energy infrastructure and proposed a number of priority actions. Urgent measures are needed to develop an effective energy infrastructure, electricity and gas networks across Europe and to achieve the objectives of sustainability, competitiveness and security of supply. Electricity and gas networks are at the heart of a well functioning European market. The Commission has proposed several actions to speed up investments in the most critical bottlenecks, which typically occur at borders between countries. These missing links are also essential for avoiding power cuts or interruptions in gas supply. The proposed actions include:
Appointing four European co-ordinators to pursue the four most critical projects: the Power-Link between Germany, Poland and Lithuania; connections to off-shore wind power in Northern Europe; an electricity interconnection between France and Spain; and the Nabucco pipeline, bringing gas from Central Asia, the Caspian region and the Middle East to Central Europe; Harmonizing regional planning by strengthening cooperation between transmission systems operators who will monitor and analyse the development planning at regional level; Encouraging streamlined planning and authorization procedures by inviting the Member States to set up national procedures within which planning and approval of projects of European interest should be completed within a fixed delay of five years; Examining the need to increase EU funding in particular to facilitate the integration of renewable energy into the grid.
Full implementation of all projects of European Interest appears vital if the EU is to integrate new "green electricity" into the grid, develop an efficient energy internal market and reduce the risks of shortage of supplies across the Union. Although the EU has already set up a series of policies for a more effective energy infrastructure, networks have still not developed sufficiently. European energy networks are operating close to their physical limits with the risk of temporary supply interruptions. Furthermore, many Member States continue to remain isolated from the rest of the internal market.
With only €200 million of annual investments on cross-border grids, the situation appears particularly dramatic for the European electricity sector, as more than 60% of the projects, which have been declared of European Interest by the Council and the European Parliament face significant delays, mainly due to the complexity of the authorization procedures.
On the other side the most important gas pipeline projects are – for the time being - progressing reasonably well. Nonetheless, the involvement of several countries situated outside of the European Union complicates the cooperation and coordination of these projects.
