Transforming Europe’s Electricity Supply – An Infrastructure Strategy for a Reliable, Renewable and Secure Power System

European energy policy seeks to achieve a substantially increased contribution from renewable sources of electricity, and the creation of a pan-European competitive electricity market. The existing infrastructure of the European electricity grid, and generally low levels of integration and co-ordination in the planning and operation of the grid, will not enable these goals to be achieved. The European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC) has therefore examined the developments that are required in grid planning, operation and infrastructure to accommodate more renewable sources of electricity and to support a European electricity market. The study concludes that developments are required in planning a European grid to ensure that investments are made in the right places, in the way the grid is operated so that maximum benefit is extracted from a given infrastructure, and in transmission technologies so that effective options are available for environmental, operational, energy efficiency and investment considerations. Specific recommendations are made in each of these areas. The report is addressed to policy-makers in the European Union institutions and at Member State level, to research funders, professional and regulatory bodies, and to all other interested parties. Our objective is to provide the scientific evidence to inform and stimulate further debate on the challenges, and to indicate some specific options for change while recognising, of course, that much is already being achieved in Europe. On behalf of EASAC, I thank the members of the Working Group, and Professor Michael Sterling and Professor Harry Frank who chaired it. Their hard work and knowledge is much appreciated. Working Group members were drawn from ten European countries and a range of relevant disciplines, providing a breadth of experience and viewpoints that proved invaluable in developing the findings and recommendations set out in this report. Professor Volker ter Meulen Chairman, EASA