Regulators recommend no “one-size fits all” EU-wide electricity interconnection target

17 July 2017

Today, the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER) published a Regulatory White Paper on Infrastructure. CEER broadly welcomes the infrastructure-related proposals in the Clean Energy package, with the following key recommendations:
 

Develop interconnection based on costs and benefits
1.  A “one-size-fits-all” interconnection target across EU Member States is unjustified and could be detrimental to consumers. Instead, the target for interconnection capacities should be separately identified for each bidding zone boundary, based on an assessment of costs and benefits.
2.   A full implementation of the Capacity Allocation and Congestion Management Guideline, allowing an efficient utilisation and valuation of all (existing and proposed) transmission infrastructure, is essential.

Review proposed harmonisation of transmission tariffs
3.   Further harmonisation of transmission tariffs is not sufficiently justified yet, as the benefits of such a harmonisation remain unclear in the short term and are highly uncertain in the future.
 

Allow flexibility in use of interconnector congestion income
4.   The possibility to use interconnector congestion revenues to lower transmission tariffs should be maintained as a residual option for regulators.
 

Facilitate improvements in transmission planning
5.   The Union-wide Ten-Year Network Development Plan (TYNDP) and the national Network Development Plans should be subject to regulatory approval.
6.   Market participants and other entities should be obliged to provide ACER (the Agency) with the information it requires to fulfil its legal mandate on the TYNDP.

This Regulatory White Paper on Infrastructure is one in a series of Regulatory White Papers relevant to the European Commission’s Clean Energy proposals. All Regulatory White Papers can be found here.