What future(s) for the EU power transmission industry?

Abstract

The EU power system and transmission business are entering an era of radical changes. Why? A driving force is the Europeanisation of the markets and of the system. It is complemented by the strength of distributed generation and "prosumers"; as well as the speed of technological change. Each of these three powerful forces combine to create a genuine wave of innovation and disruption. In ten years time, both the power system and the transmission business will be "new beasts". But, which ones? Three big alternative futures pop up. First, Europeanisation of the system and business is a logical end. But second, renationalisation of the MS energy policy and 2030 trajectories can also be the opposite driving force. Indeed and third, even a disaggregation of both the system and the business into "local only" interactions also looks logical.