Division 4.2.6 Electricity infrastructure development (Article 16(1) and Article 16(3) to (6) of Directive 2009/28/EC)

Besides the current situation and already existing legislation future actions, planned revisions, responsible bodies for it and expected results have to be described.

1. (a)

   Reference to existing national legislation concerning requirements related to the energy grids (Article 16):

2. (b)

   How is it ensured that transmission and distribution grids will be developed with a view to integrating the targeted amount of renewable electricity while maintaining the secure operation of the electricity system? How is this requirement included in the transmission and distribution operators' periodical network planning?

3. (c)

   What will be the role of intelligent networks, information technology tools and storage facilities? How will their development be ensured?

4. (d)

   Is the reinforcement of the interconnection capacity with neighbouring countries planned? If so, which interconnectors, for which capacity and by when?

5. (e)

   How is the acceleration of grid infrastructure authorisation procedures addressed? What is the current state and average time for getting approval? How will it be improved? (Please refer to current status and legislation, bottlenecks detected and plans to streamline procedure with timeframe of implementation and expected results.)

6. (f)

   How is coordination between grid infrastructure approval and other administrative planning procedures ensured?

7. (g)

   Are priority connection rights or reserved connection capacities provided for new installations producing electricity from renewable energy sources?

8. (h)

   Are any renewable installations ready to come online but not connected due to capacity limitations of the grid? If so, what steps are taken to resolve this and by when is it expected to be solved?

9. (i)

   Are the rules on cost sharing and bearing of network technical adaptations set up and published by transmission and distribution system operators? If so, where? How is it ensured that these rules are based on objective, transparent and non-discriminatory criteria? Are there special rules for producers located in peripheral regions and regions with low population density? (Cost bearing rules define which part of the costs is covered by the generator wishing to be connected and which part by the transmission or distribution system operator. Cost sharing rules define how the necessary cost should be distributed between subsequently connected producers that all benefit from the same reinforcements or new lines.)

10. (j)

    Please describe how the costs of connection and technical adaptation are attributed to producers and/or transmission and/or distribution system operators? How are transmission and distribution system operators able to recover these investment costs? Is any modification of these cost bearing rules planned in the future? What changes do you envisage and what results are expected? (There are several options for distributing grid connection costs. Member States are likely to choose one or a combination of these. According to the ‘deep’ connection cost charging the developer of the installation generating electricity from renewable energy sources bears several grid infrastructure related costs (grid connection, grid reinforcement, and extension). Another approach is the ‘shallow’ connection cost charging, meaning that the developer bears only the grid connection cost, but not the costs of reinforcement and extension (this is built into the grid tariffs and paid by the customers). A further variant is when all connection costs are socialised and covered by the grid tariffs.)

11. (k)

    Are there rules for sharing the costs between initially and subsequently connected producers? If not, how are the benefits for subsequently connected producers taken into account?

12. (l)

    How will it be ensured that transmission and distribution system operators provide new producers wishing to be connected with the necessary information on costs, a precise timetable for processing their requests and an indicative timetable for their grid connection?