The access of renewable energy sources to “smart grids”

The process of liberalization of the European electricity industry has fundamentally modified demand patterns, operation and investment conditions of power generation, in particular for generators of renewable energy sources. Whereas, under the traditional monopoly system, electricity was generated in large power stations and carried over long distances to reach its final users, small ‘independent’ electricity producers, close to consumers, now have the right to access the grid. The deregulation of the electricity industry is still an unfinished process as the reforms in the European energy sector testify.

In parallel to these reforms, the European Union also adopted a ‘climate package’, which led to the pledge to increase the share of renewable energy sources to 20% and to increase energy efficiency by 20% by 2020. These targets require that the share of electricity from renewable energy sources must be increased and transmission and demand-side management must be made more efficient. To realize these goals, important infrastructure challenges will have to be addressed by the European legislator. The modernization of the current grid, in particular the creation of a “smart grid”, is a prerequisite for the large-scale deployment of renewable energies.

This project thus aims to explore how the economic and legal conditions can be improved to allow a large-scale uptake of renewable energy sources by the electricity networks and amenable the efficient functioning of the electricity networks.