Brussels, 16/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament supports the objective (laid down by the European Council in October 2014) of 10% electricity connection between the member states by 2020, but called for additional regional targets up to 2030, based on in-depth scientific evidence. This is essentially the message sent out by the report drafted by Peter Eriksson (Greens/EFA, Sweden) and adopted by the EP at its plenary session, in Strasbourg on Tuesday 15 December.
Reiterating the benefits of a fully integrated electricity market - prices down by at least two euros per megawatt-hour and savings of nearly €40 billion a year by 2030, as long as €150 billion in investments are made to interconnect the networks and integrate renewable energies - the EP describes the target of 10% interconnection levels by 2020 as vital.
It takes the view, however, that this objective still does not reflect the market situation and is not based on probing scientific evidence. Given the evolution of the energy system since 2002 and the rise of renewable energies, the EP questions the 15% interconnection target by 2030. It therefore calls upon the Commission to look into the possibility of setting additional regional objectives and laying down better qualitative and quantitative reference criteria, such as determining the level of interconnection necessary. It also stresses the need to lay down an electricity interconnection target on the basis of the EU's long-term climate objectives.
Eriksson report also evaluates regional cooperation.
For the Baltic Sea region, the MEPs expressed concern at the fact that the Baltic states are still synchronised with the Russian electricity network and depend on this, which they feel is an obstacle to a proper integration and proper functioning of the European electricity market. They therefore call for the rapid synchronisation of the Baltic electricity network with the network of the European continent. For the region of the North Sea, the EP stresses that the coordination of the planning and construction of a regional offshore energy network, access to the market and the sharing of reserves in this region would help to make savings in the order of €5 to €13 billion a year by 2030, on the grounds of a better integrated regional market. The MEPs observe that the region of the North Sea could generate more than 8% of Europe's electricity requirements by 2030. For central and western Europe, the MEPs stress the success story of the sharing of the electricity market between Austria and Germany. For central and south-eastern Europe, the EP calls for cooperation and coordination for the long-term implementation of a regional energy network going beyond the borders of the EU to include the countries of the Western Balkans which are not member states, plus Turkey. For the Iberian Peninsula, the EP finds that the current interconnection capacity with the rest of Europe too low and the projects on the first list of energy infrastructure projects of common interest insufficient. It calls upon the Commission to study the advantages of interconnection with France, the United Kingdom, Italy and the countries of the southern shore of the Mediterranean. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)