On 19 June in Strasbourg, the European Parliament adopted two strategic texts on the future of grids and flexibility: a resolution on the Clean Industrial Deal and an own-initiative report on electricity grids.
In the resolution on the Clean Industrial Deal, MEPs call for an “EU strategy on energy flexibility”. In the accompanying report on electricity grids, they urge the European Commission to propose an “EU strategy to vastly reduce the dispatch-down of renewable electricity.”
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The report on electricity grids supports moving away from the “first-come-first-served” principle in grid connection queues. It calls on the European Commission to introduce transparent priority connection criteria, to be further developed by national governments.
The resolution on the Clean Industrial Deal also calls for increased support for clean tech manufacturing and a new EU action plan on clean technologies.
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“The European Parliament has sent a strong statement to the European Commission: you must do more on flexibility,” said Arthur Daemers, Senior Policy Advisor at SolarPower Europe.
Trigger action from the European Commission
“We need a surge battery deployment now. In the continent as a whole, we must multiply our battery storage capacity 10x in 5 years. This will reduce volatility on energy markets, enable industrial decarbonisation through renewables, and strengthen Europe’s energy security by reducing dependence of volatile fossil imports and boosting affordable, domestically generated clean power,” underlined Daemers.
The Clean Industrial Deal addresses several key areas – including ramping up renewables, electrifying industry and expanding electricity grids. But further action is needed to advance storage and flexibility across Europe.
Daemers: “We hope that these two reports, adopted with wide majorities, will trigger action from the European Commission to incentivise the massive deployment of battery energy storage systems, hybrid renewable energy systems and demand-side flexibility. A swift implementation of key measures adopted via the recent Electricity Market Design revision is necessary but not enough – we need a new EU strategy on flexibility.” (hcn)
