Continuous and rapid expansion of wind power generation with a growing share of large scale off-shore projects requires significant equivalent grid expansion, improved system operation and control, the Union for the Coordination of the Transmission of Electricity (UCTE) said on May 31.
Until now the integration of wind power into the European synchronous power grids could be managed without serious problems due to extra operational and technical measures taken by TSOs when wind power generation peaked, UCTE said. But additional capacity in the actual transmission infrastructure and more reserve generation capacity will be vital to integrate the large amounts of wind power foreseen in the near future by national targets and individual legal entities, UCTE warned.
It said more flexible generation - such as additional balancing and reserve power, start up and shut down ability of base load units - is needed, as well as market arrangements and compatible incentives. "These infrastructural, operational and market challenges must be taken seriously and require a close cooperation of the organizations involved with the grid operators to ensure the security and reliability of the electricity system of continental Europe," UCTE said.
Despite agreeing to legally binding security and reliability standards throughout the UCTE grid network on May 12, UCTE's member TSOs remain "seriously concerned about growing risks to operational security and system integrity of the European electricity system in the near future," the organization said.
"These risks which are outside the sphere of influence of the TSOs are due to the unfavourable geographical spread and the increasing share of intermittent power generation which causes extensive long-distance energy transports," it said. These power flows also put extra pressure on regions where there is already congestion and can cause problems for neighbouring grids, it added.
The increasing share of generation units fed by renewable energy sources and connected to the medium/low voltage level without legal relation to a TSO also presents a major risk because compliance with system requirements cannot be assured, UCTE added. "[This] needs extra attention within each national regulatory system," it said.
UCTE said it supported the development of renewable energy sources and their integration into the European energy system, but its members felt themselves "responsible and obliged to inform the European Union and the national governments, as well as the community, about the growing risks arising from those situations and difficulties they are facing in order to maintain electric system security and reliability to meet the customers' high expectations.
UCTE is calling for: a harmonized approach on studies of new technology to accommodate new renewable energy sources; a European scheme to promote renewables which complies with conditions of the transmission infrastructure; compatible market arrangements conditional for a permanent safe and stable power supply in Europe; harmonization and synchronization of grid planning and expansion of renewable energy sources; and national rules and procedures expediting the process of granting licences and authorization for new urgently needed high voltage transmission lines and grid reinforcements.
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