Brussels, 02/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - The Commission vice-president with responsibility for the Energy Union, Maros Sefcovic, believes that developing smart networks to include electricity from renewable energy sources (sun and wind) in the network and to balance out their intermittent production, together with flexible demand for electricity, could do for Europe what shale gas has done for the United States.
“Smart networks should become Europe's shale gas”, Sefcovic told a conference on networks, in Brussels on Wednesday 1 April.
Smart networks are vital for an integrated single energy market, as they can integrate more renewables in the electricity networks, increase the security of supply and help to bring down prices for consumers, he stressed.
The commissioner for energy, Miguel Arias Canete, who also attended the conference, stressed that smart networks were central to the Commission's vision of making the EU the world number one for renewables and reforming the European energy markets. (Emmanuel Hagry)