Stakeholders from the European power industry need more time to consider last-minute changes that were made to a new Grid Connection Code for Generators, EU power industry association Eurelectric said Wednesday.
EU power grid operator body Entso-e submitted the code to regulatory agency ACER on Friday. It sets out the requirements all generators must comply with in order to connect to the EU electricity grid.
But Eurelectric together with wind energy association EWEA, solar group Epia, geothermal generator body Geode, local energy companies group Cedec, and boiler industry group VGB Powertech have written to ACER and the European Commission asking for more time to consider the code.
"We are concerned that Entso-e made some final changes at very short notice and we have not had time to consider the final changes," a Eurelectric spokeswoman said Wednesday.
First, stakeholders say there is not a long-term view on how the power grid will be operated in decade or beyond, so they call for common binding minimum rules at EU level that can be reviewed periodically.
They also say the code submitted by Entso-e does not have a full cost-benefit analysis of the impact that the new rules will have on generators' costs and whether this is justified.
And they take issue with the fact that cross-border grid connection requirements have been left for national grid operators to decide.
"Leaving a number of disputed points open for national TSOs to decide holds the risk that they impose costly or technically difficult requirements on generators while avoiding cost-benefit analysis," the letter states.
Their remaining concerns focus on generators having to carry an unreasonable share of the burden, uncertainty over the retroactive application of the code, a requirement for all generators to provide ancillary services like balancing and reactive power, and finally a lack of emphasis on standardization.
The six associations want an extra three months to express their views before the code is signed off by ACER to then be considered by a committee of national government officials, a process known as comitology.
"We hope that ACER will take these concerns into account when drafting its 'reasoned opinion' on the code, expected for October," the letter concludes.
