As part of its Energy Policy for Europe, the European Commission has sounded the alarm over the current state of energy infrastructure and proposed a number of priority actions. Urgent measures are needed to develop an effective energy infrastructure, electricity and gas networks across Europe and to achieve the objectives of sustainability, competitiveness and security of supply, Trend reports with reference to the statement of the EC.
The document says that electricity and gas networks are at the heart of a well functioning European market. The Commission has proposed several actions to speed up investments in the most critical bottlenecks, which typically occur at borders between countries. These missing links are also essential for avoiding power cuts or interruptions in gas supply. The proposed actions include:
Appointing four European co-ordinators to pursue the four most critical projects: the Power-Link between Germany, Poland and Lithuania; connections to off-shore wind power in Northern Europe; an electricity interconnection between France and Spain; and the Nabucco pipeline, bringing gas from Central Asia, the Caspian region and the Middle East to Central Europe;
Harmonizing regional planning by strengthening cooperation between transmission systems operators who will monitor and analyze the development planning at regional level.