The 3 of December 2010 has been a fruitful day for EU energy policy. In additional to the Council Energy Meeting, this day has seen the signature in Brussels of the Memorandum of Understanding concerning the North Seas Countries' Offshore Grid Initiative (NSCOGI). The Initiative was formally launched by 9 EU countries that signed on 7 December 2009 a Political Declaration (Belgium, Denmark, Frane, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom). Norway joined them and signed the same Political Declaration on 2 February 2010.
The core objective of the Initiative is to define 'a framework for regional cooperation' and to 'find common solutions to questions related to current and possible future grid infrastructure developments in the North Seas.'
There have been recently many signs reinforcing the Initiative's objective: the Commission's Communication on Energy Infrastructure Priorities for 2020-2030, the EU energy roadmap towards 2050, and the ten-year network development plans of ENTSO-E that includes a working plan for the ENTSO-E regional group North Sea. Other bodies have also confirmed their intention to cooperation to the Initiative: ACER, the energy regulators and ENTSO-E (see letters of intent, 3 December 2010, annexed to the MoU). The EU regulatory environment is consequently favourable to such initatives.
In the MoU, the signatories recognise that the 'ambitious plans for the installation of wind farms offshore' require some major adaptation, including the 'large-scale development of appropriate offshore infrastructure as well as reinforcement of the onshore grid.' Public support will be essential taken into account the 'substantial scale of investment.' Coordination between the signatories may here allow cost-efficiency in the investments to be realised.
The MoU establishes the institutional structure necessary to the functioning of the Initative:
- a rotating chair with a Secretariat based in the Benelux;
- a Steering Committee, composed by representatives of the signing countries and the Commission. Its task is to 'oversee, guide and monitor' the work of the working groups and evaluating the progress made towards the achievement of the MoU's objectives;
- a Programme Board, composed of representatives of the Steering Committee, ENTSO-E, ACER and the energy regulators. It coordinates the working groups ;
- 3 working groups on: grid configuration and integration; market and regulatory issues; planning and authorization procedures. Work in the working groups is led by two governments. Working groups are composed by representatives of the governments, ENTSO-E, ACER, energy regulators and the European Commission. Experts may be invited to join.
The text of the MoU is available HERE.
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