ENTSO-E 10 year plan

Here is the opening paragraph of the ENTSO-E 10 year plan:

“ENTSO-E is pleased to release the 2018 Ten Year

Network Development for public consultation. We

hope to receive your views or comments and those

fron the many professional, associations or

citizens thinking on our common electric future.”

The current draft of the plan can be found here:
https://tyndp.entsoe.eu/Documents/TYNDP%20documents/TYNDP2018/consultation/Main%20Report/TYNDP2018_Executive%20Report.pdf

I note that the plan depends more on overhead power lines than anything else. For example, the plan calls for:

Transmission Projects proposed: Consisting of 357 Investments 

201 Overhead Lines 

67 Subsea 

23 Underground Cables

I do not think it is politically realistic to build 201 new overhead lines in Europe. Furthermore such lines are extremely vulnerable. It is very difficult for me to not see this as a backward looking plan in terms of technology. I believe it is absolutely critical for the main legs of the future European supergrid to be underground lines carrying more than 10 GW. As I have said in prior posts, the maps that have been published of the European supergrid really imply that each line has to carry tens of gigawatts at least. In a way there is a big lie being promoted, since the maps that are shown of the European supergrid do not show the spaghetti tangle of overhead powerlines that actually would be required to implement the supergrid using current technology.

I fully understand that this plan is following previous precedent, in that only fully proven technologies make it into the plan. I could understand that for the next five years, but I am opposed to this being applied to the out years, especially since you can show that we will never achieve our results with current technology unless the concerns of environmentalists are completely overruled. We absolutely need an underground transmission and technology that can move tens of gigawatts per line.

Furthermore, since the ultimate solution will involve a multi terminal HVDC grid, many of the plan projects will become outmoded whenever we finally do get that grid. We should at least be taken care that the projects were building now will ultimately fit into the supegrid in the future.