IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - March/April 2014 - 45

plant projects have been postponed or cancelled in the last
three years. it is also worth noting that european investment in
renewable energy sources dropped in the first quarter of 2013
by 25% (with respect to the same period of the previous year),
with an almost complete halt in countries like France, italy,
and Spain.

The Pan-European Transmission Grid:
Options and Challenges

actions) and the interconnection capacity available for
cross-border trade. according to entSO-e scenarios
for 2020, 80% of the bottlenecks are related to reS
integration, either because direct connection of reSs
is at stake or because the network section or corridor
is a keyhole between reSs and load centers. in addition, entSO-e market studies show larger, more volatile power flows over larger distances across europe.
investment on the grid is needed to avoid the worsening of present congestion and new congestion. Other
signs of the need to adjust market rules come from the
increasing number of frequency deviations caused by
short-term mismatches between power consumption
and power generation experienced in the european
synchronous regions. Several measures to cope with
these issues have been proposed or deployed, including
enhanced coordination among tSOs, innovative control devices, investing in cross-border infrastructure,
demand response measures, storage, and paying for the
availability of generation capacity-often based on fossil fuels-at the national level. the latter solution, however, is currently stirring up the ec's concerns about
the risks associated with market inefficiencies.
✔ Technological options and coordinated operation
of intelligent devices: advanced technologies other

among the main challenges faced in the design and development of the evolving european transmission system, one can
highlight the following:
✔ Public acceptance and permitting: the bulk power
system expansion is curbed by environmental and
social issues. Social acceptance of electricity infrastructures is always a concern, as the resistance of local
authorities and/or public opinion to new lines is persistently high. the time required to get permits for grid
facilities is generally much longer than the time needed
to build new power plants. One in three planned investments by entSO-e faces delays in implementation
due to long permitting processes, and some sections of
new overhead lines have had to be replaced with underground cables. in Germany, as of mid-2012, only 214
km of 1,834 km of urgent transmission grid expansion
projects were completed.
to overcome these delays,
the new ten-e guidelines
Power Transmission
Systems in the EU
include binding time limits
for the permit process, the
UCTE
establishment of a national
NORDEL
BALTSO
"one-stop shop" for permit
ATSOI
granting, and a streamlined
UKTSOA
public consultation.
IPS/UPS
✔ Renewable energy inteTEIAS
gration, unplanned flows,
and capacity markets: the
HVdc Cable
HVac Cable
ongoing liberalization process and the massive deployHVdc B2B
Interconnections
ment of renewable energy
sources (reSs)-which was
not coupled with adequate or
timely grid development-
have led to increasing or
unplanned interarea power
exchanges through crossborder interconnectors. a
high share of renewable
energy in the electricity mix
also raises the question of
the adequacy of generation
capacities and grids. this
has a direct impact on the
costs of ensuring security of
supply (in terms of remedial figure 1. The power transmission systems in Europe and beyond.
march/april 2014

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