Europe’s renewable energy industry has called for a reform of the EU electricity market to be set as priority, outlining market adjustment features and principles that would help the EU reap the benefits of renewable energy power generation.
The share of electricity produced by renewables could grow from 28% today to 50% in 2030, contributing to the competitiveness of the European economy by supplying inexpensive power, it is stated in a position paper signed by EU renewable energy associations.
However, exploiting these benefits requires adjusting the market design to decentralised and variable power production, thus sending the appropriate signals to remove uneconomic, polluting and inflexible assets from the market.
“It is no longer a question of how to integrate renewables into an inflexible and centralised power market, it is time to think how the power market can maximise the potential of renewables. It is necessary for the power market to promote rather than hamper flexibility,” Jacopo Moccia , Policy Director at Ocean Energy Europe, said.
While recalling the equally important need for a better designed and more renewable energy systems (RES) based market for thermal energy, the EU renewable energy associations highlight the following key features as essential for a fully functioning electricity market supporting the energy transformation with renewables:
In the move to a new electricity market design providing a true level playing field for all participants, EU renewable energy associations regard the following policy instruments as a prerequisite to successfully master the energy transformation:
The signatories of the position paper are: