Urgent action is needed to unlock grid capacity for more wind power

July 5, 2024

Urgent action is needed to unlock grid capacity for more wind power

Access to the electricity grid is currently the number one bottleneck for large-scale renewable energy deployment. Across Europe, hundreds of gigawatts of wind power projects have applied for grid connection permits and are awaiting a response. The resulting grid connection queues have led to administrative overload and serious delays to much-needed wind power expansion. In a new report, WindEurope examines the challenges of grid access in Europe and proposes practical, immediate actions to free up grid capacity for new and rebuilt wind farms.

The EU wants to increase wind power capacity from the current 220 GW to 425 GW by 2030 and 1,300 GW by 2050. Wind energy is crucial for energy security, affordable electricity and industrial competitiveness.

In the recent revision of the Renewable Energy Directive, the EU agreed important reforms to accelerate the expansion of wind power, in particular by improving and streamlining the procedures for issuing permits for new wind farms. These are already having an impact – in the (few) Member States that implemented the new rules on time.

The new number one bottleneck for the expansion of wind and other renewables is now the grid. Currently, more than 500 GW of potential wind capacity in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, Romania, Ireland, Croatia and the UK are waiting for their grid connection application to be assessed. Italy and the UK each have more than 100 GW of projects in the pipeline.**

The EU understands this – and understands how expanding grids is essential to expanding renewables and electrifying the energy system. The new EU Networks Action Plan sets out key measures to accelerate the expansion and optimisation of Europe’s energy networks.

“Grid access means new permits – the number one bottleneck in wind power development. The system is clogged – and holding back hundreds of gigawatts of wind farms. That means less energy security and higher energy prices. Some reforms will take time, such as more forward planning. But some things can be improved immediately, notably better management of grid connection queues,” says WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson.

Network Saturation: Europe Needs More Network Capacity

A new WindEurope report examines the factors behind grid connection delays and shows which countries are particularly affected. It finds that grid saturation and inefficient grid planning are key reasons, but not the only ones. National grid expansion targets are often not aligned with the 2030 renewables expansion targets set out in Member States’ National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs).

To accelerate the expansion of electricity networks, countries should apply the principle of overriding public interest when granting permits for network infrastructure – whether it is the direct connection of renewable energy sources or broader grid reinforcements.

“The overriding public interest (OPI) for new wind farms is a success story. Germany and others who use OPI have increased permit volumes significantly – and they have done it very quickly. But electricity is useless if there is no grid to transport it. Countries can use OPI on grids – what are they waiting for?” says Giles Dickson.

Immediate actions to unblock network access queues

Currently, network licensing authorities in most European countries use the “first come first served” rules for granting access to the grid. Similarly, immature and sometimes purely speculative renewable energy projects have to be assessed when their application comes in. This creates excessive queues and backlogs. It holds back more mature and promising projects. And it increases the administrative burden on permitting authorities.

Result: It may take some time today up to 9 years to obtain permission to connect to the network for new and modernized wind farms.

The authorities issuing permits for the network must move away from the “first come, first served/treat everyone equally” principle. They should apply filtering AND criteria for setting priorities to better handle grid connection requests. The goal must be to reduce the number of projects in the queue, weed out immature, speculative bids and ensure a balanced allocation of grid capacity across all strategic net-zero technologies.First come first served” can lead to ill-considered allocation of network capacity and unbalanced technological and/or geographical mix. This can seriously exacerbate grid congestion and curtailment of renewable energy sources, which increases costs.

Many countries use filter criteria already. These include stricter criteria for entry onto waiting lists for grid connection assessment, adequate financial commitments to reserve allocated grid capacity, and regular checks on projects’ progress towards key milestones. France, Norway, Spain and the UK have started to implement this “milestone achievement” principle to manage waiting lists more dynamically and abandon projects that are slow to develop or are stalled.

Prioritization criteria. Spain, Ireland and Greece are experimenting with this. System integration would be a good thing to prioritize. For example, after weeding out immature projects, prioritize projects that co-locate different generation and/or storage technologies. And/or projects with advanced grid capabilities. This would allow for more efficient use of the grid connection. It would also encourage developers to use the complementary nature of different energy sources, such as a mix of wind and solar, to maximize the use of available grid capacity.

WindEurope’s new report “The Challenges of Grid Access for Wind Farms in Europe” includes a number of other recommendations on grid charges, grid expansion costs, curtailment and hybridisation.

Read the full report