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'Supergrid' Proposal for Europe's Power Backed by Nexans, WPD
2010-09-23 07:10:18.2 GMT
By Sally Bakewell
Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Mainstream Renewable Power Ltd., a
Dublin-based energy company, said its $47 billion plan to build
a "supergrid" distributing 22 gigawatts of power across Europe
picked up support from three companies.
Nexans SA, a Paris-based cable maker, German wind developer
WPD AG and CG Power Systems NV of Belgium joined the initiative
to build the cross-border transmission system for electric
power, Eddie O'Connor, chief executive officer for Mainstream,
said in an interview. The companies confirmed their involvement.
The project will provide new access points for wind and
solar plants to feed into cables carrying supplies to customers.
The current grid, regulated by national authorities, is a hurdle
to reaching European clean-energy targets, said Jan Declercq,
chief business development officer for CG Holdings Belgium.
"If we want to remove this, we have to create a supergrid
at European-wide level," he said. Without an integrated cross-
border network the U.K. cannot build its planned 25 gigawatts of
offshore wind-energy stations, O'Connor said.
Mainstream formed the group promoting the "supergrid" in
March. Among the 10 founding members are 3E Co., Areva T&D, DEME
Blue Energy, Hochtief Construction, Visser & Smit Marine
Contracting and Siemens AG. Each company works in delivering
offshore electricity infrastructure. The group is trying to
influence policy makers on how to build the grid, said O'Connor.
'No Barriers'
The proposal would leave "no barriers, one regulator, one
grid" controlling electricity distribution, O'Connor said. Its
first leg would link Norway, Britain and Germany and cost 35
billion euros ($47 billion), distributing 22 gigawatts of power.
O'Connor said the program should be started by 2016 to
accommodate the U.K.'s planned wind power expansion. Decisions
on the first phase will come from the U.K. and German
governments in addition to the European Commission.
"We will propose how we think it should be done," he
said.
Unlike current connections that link offshore power
production centers to single grid points, the supergrid will
link offshore projects to sea-based "supernodes."
These will collect and blend renewable energy from offshore
wind, marine and hydro sources before transforming it from
alternating to direct current. The supernodes then will route
the electricity to the best available market in Europe with the
highest price.
Governance, Operations
"Who will own it, who will govern it, how will it be
operated, how it will interface with the existing grids" are
among questions the advisory group plans to answer, said
O'Connor.
The European Investment Bank will have a role, as will the
"Green Infrastructure Bank" the U.K. government is proposing,
O'Connor said.
"We will find innovative ways of funding it," he said.
The organization, which aims to have 20 members, is about to
announce the appointment of a new CEO, expected on Oct. 5.
WPD and Nexans confirmed their involvement in the group by
e-mail. Nexans is also a member of the Transgreen initiative,
which aims to transport 20 gigawatts of solar power from North
Africa through submarine cables to Europe.
For Related News and Information:
Top renewable-energy news: GREEN <GO>
New Energy Finance top stories: TNEF <GO>
Most-read wind news: MNI WIND <GO>
--Editors: Reed Landberg, Todd White
To contact the reporter responsible for this story:
Sally Bakewell in London at +44-20-3216-4332 or
Sbakewell1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at +44-20-7330-7862 or
landberg@bloomberg.net
