EU Member State Energy Policy needs co-ordination says ENTSO-E
By:
Chris Anderson
19/03/2015
ENTSO-E
Member States to Coordinate
Energy Policies Starting at Regional Level with ENTSO-E Commitment to Contribute
Ahead of today’s European
Council’s discussions on the Energy Union Pierre Bornard, ENTSO-E’s Chairman
of the Board insisted on the need to speed up energy policy coordination
among Member States, to start with the regions.
'In order to achieve Europe's
ambitious targets on renewables, climate, energy efficiency but also on
competitiveness and security of supply, Member States will have to acknowledge
the interdependence of their energy policy decisions and co-ordinate them
much better at least at a regional level,' he said. 'If we are really serious
about putting the citizen at the core of the Energy Union we have to be
faster and more ambitious in our actions'. 'Member States have indeed the
right and responsibility to ensure their security of supply and to make
energy mix decisions at a national level, within the framework of the Internal
Energy Market. However, power does not stop flowing at Member States' borders
and security of supply is achieved with mutual help and primary resource
pooling', Bornard continued.
Regionalisation, which features
strongly in the Commission's Energy Union Communication, can be a fast
track towards an integrated electricity market. 'This means that energy
policy choices are coordinated on such issues as system adequacy on a regional
level, flexibility to balance renewables, capacity remuneration mechanisms,
generation reserves and back-up capacity', continued ENTSO-E's Chairman
of the Board. 'All of these decisions have important cross-border
impacts and could, if not co-ordinated, result in market fragmentation
and thus higher prices, elevated risks and less choice for the 500 million
European citizens'.
The implementation of regionally
coordinated system adequacy would be an important step forward and would
anchor the role of ENTSO-E's Scenario Outlook & Adequacy Forecast and
seasonal outlook assessments as Member States' reference point for defining
policies related to security of supply and energy-mix strategies. This
could, if necessary, be addressed through a review of the Security of Supply
Directive 2005/89/EC.
In its paper on the Energy
Union Strategy, ENTSO-E highlights the importance of a sound regulatory
framework of the policies related to the energy mix as a prerequisite for
efficient planning and realisation. 'And there is a need to strengthen
ACER, which might require increased resources to ensure the implementation
of the network codes, improve the cooperation between national regulators
and create an adequate and coherent pan-European regulatory framework.'
Bornard stressed further.
The Commission's Energy Union
paper recognises also the increasing importance of ENTSO-E. TSOs offer
solutions on a national, regional and pan-European level. They provide
objective assessments on the impacts, opportunities and risks to power
system operation of different policy options and thus help ensure that
the transition will be smooth and cost effective.
Last but not least and because
power does not stop at the EU's borders, cooperation with the European
neighbours, and here in particular with the Energy Community but also Turkey
is high on ENTSO-E's agenda. In addition to the fact that TSOs from almost
all the South-East European Contracting Parties of the Energy Community
are ENTSO-E members, on 15 April ENTSO-E will sign the Long-Term Agreement
on synchronisation with the Turkish TSO TEIAS. Reliability, sustainability,
and connectedness are the contributions ENTSO-E will make to turn the Energy
Union from promise to practice.
