7.4.2017

ACER calls for further improvements in Union-wide and national electricity network development plans

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​The Agency has recently published two opinions on electricity network development plans, one on the draft Union-wide Ten-Year Network Development Plan (TYNDP 2016) and another one regarding its consistency with the national network development plans. ACER finds the draft TYNDP 2016 prepared by ENTSO-E has improved when compared with previous plans, but it also identifies some shortcomings. Among them, insufficient alignment with the national network development plans.         

ACER Opinion on draft Union-wide Ten-Year Network Development Plan 2016      

The ACER Opinion on the draft TYNDP 2016 considers that the plan has improved in identifying the economic-efficient target capacities at 10 boundaries of the European system where power exchange bottlenecks were identified, corresponding to more than 30 individual borders. ACER also finds the scenario development included in the plan better prepared and explained. It also praises the classification of projects into “mid-term”, “long-term” or “future projects” categories, reflecting different advancement level and implementation dates, and the analysis of a mid-term study horizon for 2020 in addition to the one for 2030.         

Suggested improvements for the plan at EU level include:       

  • Further transparency about the TYNDP building process and calculation of target capacities;
  • Process for selecting projects to be included in the TYNDP;
  • Explanation of the link between the projects and the infrastructure investment needs;
  • Provision of the target capacities for each boundary, solely based on technical-economic assessments;
  • Assessment of resilience of the system and of security of supply benefits by each project;
  • Adequacy forecast and its linkage to the TYNDP;
  • Overall fitness of the TYNDP for the selection of the projects of common interest.
Access this ACER Opinion here.        

ACER opinion on the consistency of the Union-wide and the national network development plans     

ACER has also published an Opinion on electricity projects in the national network development plans (NDPs) and their consistency with the project clusters in the TYNDP 2016.     

 

The Agency notes that 33% of the national parts of the TYNDP 2016 clusters are not included in the respective NDPs, while an additional 4% are included only partially. Further, the Agency identified a few projects which are deemed by the relevant NRA as having cross-border relevance, but do not appear in the TYNDP 2016. This mismatch between the plans has significantly increased compared to previous years. The most frequent reason for this mismatch is that the commissioning date of the cluster or part of it is beyond the time horizon of the NDP, followed by reasons of non-sufficient advancement and lack of confirmation of the necessity of the project.          

The Agency raises concerns about the credibility and feasibility of many clusters included in the “future project” category (projects which are still “under consideration” and/or expected to be commissioned beyond more than 10 years). This category constitutes the vast majority (71%) of the absent national parts and corresponds to about 40% of TYNDP clusters and more than half of the TYNDP expected investment costs (78 billion Euro out of a total around 150 billion Euro).         

In order to improve consistency between the NDPs and the TYNDP, the Agency recommends ENTSO-E to include all NDP projects with cross-border relevance in future TYNDPs as well as to define and apply a procedure for inclusion of additional candidate non-NDP projects. Those projects which are opposed by all relevant NRAs should not be part of the TYNDP. Finally, the Agency notes that NDPs should include studies, even if they may go beyond the time horizon of the NDP, while their necessity should be carefully assessed by the NRAs.    
Access this ACER Opinion here​.