EU NEEDS NEW WIRES TO FREE ITS WIND

Wind energy gains still lost in grid lock
Daniel Fineren and Martin Roberts (w/Sue Thomas), March 18, 2010 (Reuters)

"Europe will not make the most of its multi-billion euro clean energy investments until old monopolies are broken up or made to build the dozens of power links needed to manage the rise of wind power.

"Billions have been spent installing wind farms across Europe over the last decade in an effort to reduce energy sector emissions of climate-warming carbon, with Denmark and Spain already producing over half of their power at times from it…Much slower progress has been made on building the infrastructure needed to share the green power around because there is no incentive for grid operators run by power generators to open doors to competitors…"

The basic plan. (click to enlarge)

"France and Germany in particular have frustrated European Union attempts to break up national energy champions, but faced with new, as yet unenforced European Union law, regional monopolies in Germany have started selling their grid arms which should spur investment…[I]ndependent Spanish electricity network operator Red Electrica [REE] has been pushing for over a decade to lay more lines across the Pyrenees to France as its home market bloats with wind.

"French grid operator RTE…held by state-controlled generator EDF…has shown less enthusiasm for cooperation….REE and RTE are finally set to start work on the first new grid connection in decades next year -- backed by 225 million euros (200 million pounds) in new EU funds…But it will only increase border capacity to 5-6 percent of Spain's peak demand when it opens in 2014…"

Once the wind wires are up, the EU can build the infrastructure to hook up to No Africa's sun. (click to enlarge)

"On windy days, Spain already has more power than it needs but can only transmit 2 percent of average output to France, so REE often has to tell operators to switch off gas, coal and wind power plants to avoid system overload…Spanish fossil fuel power producers also suffer from gluts of subsidised wind power which force wholesale prices down to zero for hours at a time…Green energy that could be sent to other parts of Europe with less wind power is wasted…

"Denmark is able to manage a bigger wind share in its mix because it is well connected with its Nordic neighbours -- with the independent grid operators on both sides keen to make money from building new links…Building more high voltage lines between countries will help make better use of existing wind power in Europe, where some countries that have raced ahead can share the spoils with their less advanced neighbours…But more links alone will not solve the problem posed by large high-pressure zones slashing wind output across Europe once other countries with big wind expansion plans catch up…"