According to Europe's leading science academies, Europe's electricity grid needs a radical overhaul if it is to distribute the renewable energy capacity that governments have committed to building by 2020. They argue that the continent's ageing grid infrastructure is incapable of transferring energy over the long distances demanded by renewable power stations, which are often built in remote locations, far from population centers.

In a report for the European Commission, published by European Academies Science Advisory Council, experts called on national governments to co ordinate their grids and invest in new technologies such as high voltage direct current transmission lines to better prepare Europe for a future of green electricity.

Mr Mike Sterling, an electrical engineer and fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in the UK, who chaired the electricity grid working group on behalf of EASAC, said that "The whole transmission and distribution system needs redesigning. The change in the generating sources is well known and, unless we can get clean coal or nuclear back up again, there will be a dramatic change in the distribution of the energy sources."

The EU has committed to sourcing 20% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020 but experts said this generating capacity will be wasted unless it can be distributed properly.

In 2008, EU scientists also proposed a plan for a Europe wide super grid that could share Europe's renewable energy resources across the continent. They said the grid could allow countries such as the UK and Denmark ultimately to export wind energy at times of surplus supply, as well as import from other green sources such as geothermal power in Iceland.

(Sourced from www.wireworld.com)