It was standing room only in the Brussels Press Club for the EWEA Public Debate.
Monday 26 September 2011By EWEA
It was standing room only in the Brussels Press Club for the EWEA Public Debate.
Over 125 people came to hear the four expert speakers and questions put to them on the topic “Energy Infrastructure – the next great European project?”.
The big news of the night came from Michael Köhler, Head of Cabinet of Commissioner Oettinger in the European Commission. He let slip that in the first half of 2012 the Commission will release two communications concerning renewables.
The first will be about further supporting renewables and the issue of different support schemes in different EU member states. The second, intriguingly, will be about market integration, but Köhler quickly clammed-up and refused to comment further on the issue when questioned. Köhler also mentioned that the EU is carrying out infringement proceedings against a number of EU member states for lack of progress on introduction of measures for liberalisation of electricity markets.
The other speakers at the debate represented a wide range of interests from the energy infrastructure field, including regulators, TSO’s and business.
Eddie O’Çonnor described himself as a developer – he is CEO of Mainstream Renewable Power, a leading company in the field.
Amongst many questions, journalists asked him about public acceptance of wind farms. He described all planning as “local”, and mused about the consequences of opposition to projects in countries around the world – delays have stretched over a decade in some instances.
O’Connor believes that burying DC cables underground is the way forward for bringing wind power to central Europe, as building the amount of infrastructure required for transporting renewable electricity will not be possible if we use overhead power lines. The consensus of the evening was that a fully functioning grid is vital for Europe.
Michael Köhler said “There will be much more trade in electricity, intra-Europe, cross border. With a massive increase in renewables, you need to be able to phase in gas, hydro, etc”…..“To operate that, you need a grid. It simply makes good sense to have more cross-border electricity, and therefore a grid”.
At the event EWEA launched its statment calling for the free movement of electricity.
Signatories to the statement are:
EWEA, Eurelectric, Europacable, Eurelectric, European Biomass Association, Business Europe, Eurocopper, E3G, EGEC, EREC, Friends of the SuperGrid, EPIA, ESTELA, GWEC and Lewiatan