The Dutch Offshore Grid Connection Regime-a North Sea Perspective

摘要

The adoption of the Renewable Energy Directive in 2009 introduced legally binding renewable energy targets for EU Member States to be met in 2020, with a major role for renewable electricity production from both on- and offshore wind. To reach and realise those targets, countries around the North Sea have drafted, adopted and subsequently updated new legislation to provide for a national regulatory framework and related subsidy scheme incentivising relevant market parties. In designing such regulatory frameworks, issues in respect of responsibility for the planning, co-ordination and financing, in practice, subsidising, of both offshore wind farms and related, sometimes separately constructed, owned and operated transmission infrastructure have been addressed. Initially, the focus was more on integrated offshore wind projects combining both production and transmission assets. That focus has now shifted to separating those two constituent parts and introducing formal transmission system operators for the offshore grid (offshore TSOs). In various countries around the Netherlands, the introduction of this framework and associated subsidy schemes has led to a dramatic increase in installed offshore wind capacity, especially in the UK and Germany, but has also led to substantial co-ordination and interface issues. In the Netherlands, proposals for the introduction of a new regulatory framework for offshore wind were only drafted and partially adopted by Parliament recently.