“EU Commission reaches for national grids”

Leaked documents on energy regulation reform show that the European Commission plans to take away important competences regarding power grid management from member states, writes Daniel Wetzel in Die Welt. “Regional Operation Centres (ROC) would then decide how much grid reserve should be kept ready, or which measures are taken in the event of supply bottlenecks,” writes Wetzel. This could also endanger the German Energiewende instrument of granting grid priority to renewable power, according to Wetzel. A spokesperson of the federal economy ministry told Die Welt: “The economy ministry believes the transfer of decision-making powers to so-called Regional Operation Centres is not necessary.”

Read the article in German here.

For background, read the CLEW dossier The energy transition and Germany’s power grid.