Status EU Power balances: ENTSO-E Summer Outlook Report 2012 and Winter Review 2011/2012 now Available

In accordance with EU requirememts set by Regulation (EC) 714/2009, ENTSO-E, the organisation for Transmission System Operators for Electricity, has just published its Summer Outlook Report 2012 and Winter Review 2011/2012 (available here). The purpose is to review the power balance in Europe at national an regional levels, and in particular how forecast matches with real generation and peak demand. The "Summer Outlook and Winter Review" also points out the awaited electricity challenges for the summer to come.

We can retain that:

"The summer outlook analysis, carried out by ENTSO-E shows that Europe has sufficient generation for both normal and severe demand conditions. While various countries may require imports, cross border capacity is sufficient to accommodate them. Under severe weather conditions such as hot waves and high temperatures, demand increases from normal levels, the analysis shows that reliability margins are reduced and some countries such as Germany, Hungary, Finland and Poland will require imports to maintain demand.

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The Summer Outlook report 2012 highlights that during certain weeks over the summer, it may be necessary to reduce excess generation in various countries as a result of insufficient cross border export capability.

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[During Winter 2011/2012] The main risk factors for most countries were related to the sensitivity of load to low temperatures causing stressed situations.

During these cold spells, the safety measures highlighted by the TSOs in the Winter Outlook report 2011/12 were activated, including voltage reductions, and interruptible load curtailments. TSOs in close cooperation with each other managed the difficult situation well through maximising the available network, coordinating generation, and ensuring customers had the greatest opportunity for uninterrupted power supply."