IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - March/April 2014 - 35

and Through Probabilistic risk assessment (GarPUr),
coordinated by statnett, which began in september 2013.
This project's objective is to define new reliability criteria to
replace the current n-1 criteria while ensuring consistency
among the various decision-making processes: planning,
asset management, and operation.

the social processes of acceptance of (and opposition to) grid
expansion projects; identify and demonstrate new or improved
approaches that will engage stakeholders in the permitting process in a way that clearly and transparently accounts for their
views; and suggest practical measures to build stakeholder
support to facilitate the deployment of new grid infrastructures.

Assessing and Managing TSO Impacts

Conclusions

Tsos need new solutions to meet the challenges of the european electricity system, in particular, a strong public opposition to the building of new power lines, resulting from their
adverse environmental impacts. without new options, Tsos
will not be able to carry out their missions.
Furthermore, studies on risks related to interactions
between electromagnetic fields and the environment tend to
amplify the doubts held by the general public about potential
negative effects of electric fields on humans, animals, and
plants. research and innovation are needed to deal with the
following potential challenges:
✔ providing safe and available electrical energy at an
affordable cost
✔ generating enough electrical power to meet new consumer needs
✔ transmitting electricity in a way that preserves major
environmental balances.
The standard solution used in the past-the building of
power lines-is now no longer sufficient or sometimes even
relevant. only a mixture of new technical and organizational
options will lead to acceptable innovative solutions, which in
turn requires the availability of new methods and knowledge
to assess and control the overall impact of these options, be
they environmental, economic, or societal.
These methods should introduce ecodesign as a basic
principle, while new knowledge covering biodiversity,
health, and the socioeconomics of energy systems must be
developed. with respect to these four axes of improvement,
rTe's contribution will always be built in partnership with
external experts. it will cover new methodological knowledge, including:
✔ methods of analysis of the life cycle of components
and typical electricity transmission grid subsystems
✔ extending that analysis to cover social impacts, biodiversity, and health, including the psychological field.
on this topic, rTe is participating in a new europeanfunded FP7 project, insPire-Grid, that is being coordinated
by italy's ricerca sul sistema energetico (rse). The project
is investigating grid expansion problems from the perspective of the social sciences. its overarching aim is to improve
the understanding of how the social processes related to grid
expansions work-why some grid projects are blocked while
others go ahead. it will identify practical measures to build
trust and stakeholder support for grid projects and explore
what this means for the accelerated european renewable
expansion. more specifically, the project proposes to develop
a theoretical and methodological framework for analyzing

To tackle the six challenges described above, significant r&D
effort will be required at the system level, with the Tsos as
key actors. in addition, the temporal consistency of the proposed solutions and their realization must be also be ensured.
although it has taken, on average, between 12 and 18 months
to build a PV solar power plant, three years to put in operation 1 Gw of demand response, and six years to create an
up-and-running market coupling between the benelux countries, France, and Germany, more than ten years are generally
required to build a 400-kV overhead power line. To adapt the
transmission grid and meet these challenges in an optimal way,
a rationalization of the authorization processes therefore seems
mandatory. rTe intends to work with other Tsos, with stakeholders, and with policy makers to accomplish this change.
The success of the european energy transition also hinges
on the involvement and collaboration of all relevant research
actors throughout europe and worldwide. Tsos should be at
the core of this community, and rTe intends to work closely
with them in europe through enTso-e but also selectively
worldwide on specific topics. rTe will work with manufacturers and other industrial actors through collaborative
research projects and by supporting demonstration opportunities. joint projects and partnerships with academic institutions in the field of power systems or other scientific fields
will also be key in our r&D strategy, as academic partners
will provide both innovative ideas to design future power
systems and educational opportunities for the researchers
and engineers who will build and operate them. Finally, to
achieve optimal global solutions at the system level, crossdisciplinary research activities will more important than
ever, and rTe intends to promote them actively.

march/april 2014

For Further Reading
saFewinD. [online]. available: www.safewind.eu
TwenTies. [online]. available: www.twenties-project.eu
electricity highways 2050. [online]. available: www.
e-highway2050.eu
optimate. [online]. available: www.optimate-platform.eu
iTesla. [online]. available: www.itesla-project.eu
GarPUr. [online]. available: http://www.garpur-project.eu/

Biographies
Sébastien Henry is with rTe, France.
Patrick Panciatici is with rTe, France.
Alexandre Parisot is with rTe, France.

p&e

ieee power & energy magazine

http://www.safewind.eu http://www.twenties-project.eu http://www.e-highway2050.eu http://www.optimate-platform.eu http://www.itesla-project.eu http://www.garpur-proj http://www.ect.eu/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - March/April 2014