EU needs to remove barriers to energy transmission investment

The EC has announced renewables targets that imply upwards of 90GW of new renewables generation will be connected across the European grid by 2020.  Achieving this requires not only effective renewables support mechanisms but also a major expansion of Europe's transmission network capacity - investment of up to €40bn might be required.  At present, there are a number of potential barriers to new transmission network investment in Europe.  Removing these barriers - and strengthening the incentives to deliver timely reinforcements - will be critical to achieving Europe's environmental goals.

Frontier (Europe) have recently published a study commissioned by the Norwegian Energy Assiciation, EBL, looking at possible policy solutions in this area.