This week the European Technology and Innovation Platform Smart Networks for Energy Transition (ETIP SNET) presents long term key priorities to enable the transition towards a reliable and sustainable European electricity system with very high shares of renewables. Overall the roadmap estimates that 2.5 billion euros investments in Research and Innovation are needed over the next 10 years to help manage Europe’s Energy Transition as a system.
The new 10 year ETIP SNET Research & Innovation (R&I) Roadmap 2017-26 provides the system view to the entire energy transition by addressing a scope larger than smart electricity grids: It also encompasses interactions with the gas and heat networks and focuses on integration of all flexibility solutions into the power system, including energy storage technologies. “For Europe to integrate over 50% of variable renewable energy such as wind or solar efficiently and reliably into its power system in the future, the electricity networks will need to be able to utilise all kinds of flexibility. They will be the heart of the overall climate-friendly energy system through smart interactions with gas networks and heating and transport systems,” says Konstantin Staschus, Chairman of the ETIP SNET.
The R&I activities for the decade to come, as described in the Roadmap, synthesize consolidated and balanced stakeholder views and rely on systematic monitoring and reviews of national, European and international projects.
The full implementation of all R&I activities is estimated at 2.5 billion euros needed to finance innovation over the next decade both for transmission and distribution systems, and to be co-financed from the public and private sector. The RD&I priorities defined in the Roadmap are organised in clusters and functional objectives. The clusters give an indication of the prioritised topics: modernisation of the network; integration of smart customers and buildings; security and system stability; power system flexibility from generation, storage, demand and network; integration of decentralized resources of these kinds; economic efficiency and digitalization of the power system; network operations; and planning and asset management.
The ETIP SNET Roadmap is available for download here, it is an update and significant extension of the previous EEGI roadmap 2013-2022.
About the ETIP SNET
The ETIP SNET role is to guide research, development and innovation to support Europe’s energy transition with innovation for the transmission and distribution systems. These systems form the technical and market platforms where clean electricity generation, empowered customers, storage technologies, smarter grids and interfaces to gas, heat and transport networks make the energy transition happen in secure and affordable ways. Until 20 January 2017 a call for working groups experts is open, more information on /working-groups
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