Electric Vehicle

GRIDS 2010 – Grids is a red-hot topic

EWEA’s GRIDS 2010 conference is two weeks away. But what is it about, and why is it happening?

“Grids is a red-hot topic, which is at the forefront of policy makers’ minds right now”, explains Amy Parsons, EWEA’s Conference Manager. “The grids issue affects the wind energy industry because without a fully connected pan-European grid wind power cannot be effectively taken from where it is produced to where it is needed. And next year will be especially crucial, as the Commission is just about to publish its infrastructure package outlining how the European Union intends to ensure that a European grid becomes a reality.”

So from a political point of view it seems like a good time to organise an event focusing on electricity grids, especially from the point of view of the European wind farm industry.

“We’re organising the event – known as GRIDS 2010 – in Berlin on 23-24 November”, says Parsons. “Germany is a crucial country for a future pan-European power grid because of its central position in Europe, the significant size of its power system, and of course because of its large amounts of wind power installed now and in the future. Reinforcing internal and international transmission lines around Germany is key to increasing power flow across Europe and enabling more wind energy to be integrated and transmitted.”

There are a variety of things happening at the two-day event. First of all, European Wind Energy Association is launching a new and in-depth report, called ‘Powering Europe: wind energy and the electricity grid’. It will present a vision for a pan-European grid up to 2050 and look at the impact of transporting larger amounts of wind energy.

EWEA will also launch a ‘conference statement’ setting out our grid-related goals with other major stakeholders such as the EU transmission system operators’ body, ENTSO-E.

Apart from this, there will be a range of sessions and panel discussions on various different topics, as well as smaller events on EU-funded projects, an exhibition, receptions and networking opportunities.

Will you be at GRIDS 2010? So will EWEA bloggers Chris Rose and Sarah Azau – come and find us in the press room if you have a story to tell.

To find out more and to register, go to www.ewea.org/grids2010 by 15 November.

By Sarah Azau, blog.ewea.org