System planning is a central task of all TSOs in Europe. Studies conducted by national TSOs identify the necessary reinforcements to provide adequate transmission capacity, access to all users and reliable operation of the network,
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fulfilling a set of planning criteria and rules that are applicable and established at national level. At this stage, the analysis of possible cross-border impacts is usually coordinated with neighbouring systems.
The Nordic countries38 provide an example where systemic coordinated planning among the involved TSOs from a regional perspective has a long tradition, all following agreed planning rules and methodologies, within a clear mandate from governments and in close cooperation with a well-established regional market.
However, to ensure the optimal management of the European interconnected electricity system and the development of an efficient internal, supra-national electricity market, which takes into account European policies on decarbonisation, tight coordination needs to be implemented at a full European scale and not just at the bilateral or regional level.
Regulation (EC) No 714/2009 laid the foundations for EU-wide network planning coordination. It established the creation of the ENTSO for Electricity and assigned to it, as one of its core tasks, the adoption of “a non-binding Community-wide ten-year network development plan (Community-wide network development plan), including a European generation adequacy outlook, every two years” (Art. 8). This “Community-wide network development plan shall include the modelling of the integrated network, scenario development, a European generation adequacy outlook and an assessment of the resilience of the system”.
This ten-year network development plan (TYNDP) ensures the necessary transparency regarding the evolution of the entire electricity transmission network in the EU. It should be also underlined that the TYNDP is associated with a European adequacy outlook that, “shall build on national generation adequacy outlooks prepared by each individual transmission system operator”.
According to the 2009 electricity Regulation,
“The Community-wide network development plan shall, in particular:
(a) build on national investment plans, taking into account regional investment plans as referred to in Article 12(1), and, if appropriate, Community aspects of network planning including the guidelines for trans-European energy networks in accordance with Decision No 1364/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 262, 22.9.2006, p. 1.);
(b) regarding cross-border interconnections, also build on the reasonable needs of different system users and integrate long-term commitments from investors referred to in Article 8 and Articles 13 and 22 of Directive 2009/72/EC; and (c) identify investment gaps, notably with respect to cross-border capacities”.
Four years later, in the 2013 Regulation on guidelines for trans-European energy infrastructure, strong doubts were expressed about the effectiveness of the TYNDP and associated mechanisms to deliver the necessary interconnection capacity:
38 These countries are Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
“Despite the fact that Directive 2009/72/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity (2) and Directive 2009/73/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 concerning common rules for the internal market in natural gas (3) provide for an internal market in energy, the market remains fragmented due to insufficient interconnections between national energy networks and to the suboptimal utilisation of existing energy infrastructure. However, Union-wide integrated networks and deployment of smart grids are vital for ensuring a competitive and properly functioning integrated market, for achieving an optimal utilisation of energy infrastructure, for increased energy efficiency and integration of distributed renewable energy sources and for promoting growth, employment and sustainable development”.39
However, instead of reinforcing the existing mechanisms within the existing governance structure, that Regulation (EU) No 347/2013 introduces a new concept, the Projects of Common Interest (PCIs), and proudly creates a new, parallel governance structure, the twelve Regional Groups. It also makes its supremacy clear:
“Projects of common interest included on the Union list pursuant to paragraph 4 of this Article shall become an integral part of the relevant regional investment plans under Article 12 of Regulations (EC) No 714/2009 and (EC) No 715/2009 and of the relevant national 10-year network development plans under Article 22 of Directives 2009/72/EC and 2009/73/EC and other national infrastructure plans concerned, as appropriate. Those projects shall be conferred the highest possible priority within each of those plans”.40
In order to ensure some coherence within a transparent framework, the 2013 Regulation assigned to ENTSO-E the responsibility for establishing “methodologies, including on network and market modelling, for a harmonised energy system-wide cost-benefit analysis at Union level for projects of common interest”, to be used also in the biennial TYNDP, thus allowing a transparent and objective comparison of the projects of common interest.
In Spring 2014, the European Commission recognised that:
“Europe needs to achieve a better functioning and a more integrated energy market.
Priority projects should be accelerated to join up existing energy islands and ensure delivery of the existing interconnection target of at least 10% of the installed
39 Regulation (EU) No 347/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2013 on guidelines for trans-European energy infrastructure and repealing Decision No 1364/2006/EC and amending Regulations (EC) No 713/2009, (EC) No 714/2009 and (EC) No 715/2009, Official Journal, L 115/39, 25 April 2013.
40 Ibid.
electricity production capacity by 2020. By 2030, Member States should be on track to meet a 15% interconnection target”.41
In the meantime, these quantitative interconnection targets have been endorsed by the European Council (October 2014).
The following figure describes the relationship among different tools of network planning and investment coordination in the EU.
Fig 2.4: European planning coordination from national development plans to projects of common interest