Final Report Summary - ERMINE (Electricity Research Road Map In Europe) The electricity sector in Europe is experiencing a strong evolution, characterised by many factors, such as the electricity market liberalisation, the strong dependence of EU energy consumption on import of combustibles, the growing focus on environment, the wide diffusion of information and communication systems and the progressive creation of the digital society and the enlargement of Europe. In this context, Research and Technology Development (RTD) programmes are facing a general trend of fund reduction and the electricity operators are focusing their research efforts on short term objectives aimed at increasing their competitiveness, rather than on long term objectives able to significantly innovate the electricity sector. This calls for appropriate strategies and policies in the planning, selection and prioritisation of the research needs and funding. The ERMINE project was a coordination action supported by the European Commission under the Sixth R&D Framework Programme. The project, whose duration is 26 months, started on 1 January 2006. The general objective of ERMINE was to provide the recent and present scenario of the electricity RTD efforts in Europe (map), as well as to indicate specific RTD needs of the European electricity sector in the next 20-25 years (road map). The ERMINE project road map can be distinguished from the more recent European road maps and notes in terms of the following main characteristics: - The ERMINE road map only deals with the electricity system and not the energy system in general (therefore no auto-transportation for example). - The road map deals with the research needs of the enlarged Europe (EU27) for the electricity sector, and is therefore based on the indications supplied by all the European stakeholders in this field. - This is a technological roadmap, in the sense that the focus is on technologies, not on energy scenarios. As a consequence, the roadmap does not use scenario models. - ERMINE analyses the development of not just one technology, but all the technologies involved in the various aspects of the electricity sector, i.e. production, transmission. Distribution and final use / market In view of the European outlook of the road map, the strategic objectives chosen have been those recently identified by the UE, i.e. energy efficiency, sustainability and safety. The road map deals with technological research, i.e. identifies the main technological obstacles that impede the above European energy objectives from being reached and defines the most effective research actions to achieve them. These research indications are then analysed in terms of time horizon and financing so as to obtain a series of alternative research paths in the electricity sector. On the basis of the indications obtained from an extensive group of experts belonging to the electricity sector and governmental institutions of the European Union, together with the suggestions received during a series of regional and international workshops and conferences, the following conclusions have been obtained: Generation sector - A wide portfolio of technologies need to be developed and / or demonstrated in a relatively short timeframe in order to achieve the goals of the EU energy policy. - Energy needs to become a priority in the European R&D agenda if the 20-20-20 goals are to be achieved. - In the short term sustainable fossil fuels (i.e. efficient fossil fuels technologies and CCS) are the key technologies. They will need demonstration at large scale and that is going to cost a lot of money. The contribution of both the private and public sectors is required. - RES technologies, in particular solar PV and solar thermal, should be also funded as they can contribute, together with clean coal, to the success of the European energy policy, based on the three main criteria of competitiveness, sustainability and security of supply. The R&D priorities in the T&D field appear to be twofold: - Huge investments are necessary to optimise the electrical system of today: its structure, mainly developed in the 60s and 70s in a regime of virtual monopolies, does not seem to be adapted for the necessities of a continent-wide free energy market. Equipment ageing requires continuous control, diagnostic and monitoring to extend the operational life well beyond the design life. A top priority of R&D activities in the present and near future is linked with all aspects of reliability and security: to ensure the continuity and the quality of supply huge efforts must be devoted to the development of tools to assist in the operation, optimisation and protection of the present system to improve its resilience and to accelerate its capabilities of quick response to disturbances and restoration in case of extended failures. Standards and procedures are also essential in this respect. - As far as the longer term is concerned, attention shall be made in the transformation of the T&D system towards an open, accessible, integrated and sustainable pan-European energy system. Dispersed generation, predominantly based on renewable energy sources, will corroborate the bulk production from fossil and nuclear generators and power and energy flows will circulate at all voltage levels in downwards and upwards directions. This will imply the widest use of information technologies that will need to be specifically developed, demonstrated and applied. Energy storage will be a must to help compensate the fluctuations characteristics of non dispatchable renewables. New materials and components, with higher energy and environmental performances will be needed to reduce power losses and increase the level of loadability of the system minimising the number of new infrastructures limited by their lack of social acceptance. End-use sector The priorities emerging from the ERMINE roadmapping exercise are essentially devoted to the continuous increase of the energy efficiency in all aspects. This is in line with the present tendency and the deeper analysis carried out and reported into a dedicated very extensive annex showed that no striking breakthrough is expected in this sector. A continuous decrease of the specific consumption is observed for all household appliances. On the other hand, important improvements can be foreseen in the industrial sector, where the processes optimisation to achieve higher energy efficiencies can be optimised. R&D efforts shall be dedicated to this aspect. Another very important development sector is the management of the demand where ICT and DG can play a substantial role: this would allow a partial revolution in the management of the energy system, in which at present the generation follows closely the variation of the load. Intelligent load management could bring towards the situation in which up to some extent the load could follow the availability of a much more sustainable generation. Documenti correlati Final Report - ERMINE (Electricity Research Road Map In Europe)
