POWER April 2017 - 13

ratified the Paris agreement and implemented
key proposals to deliver on the
2030 climate and energy framework, including
for sectors covered by the EU's
Emissions Trading System, and outside
of it. It also proposed a binding EU-level
target of 30% for improving energy efficiency
by 2030. Over the past year,
meanwhile, work was launched on integral
interconnection projects such as the
Trans Adriatic Pipeline, and financing
agreements were signed for gas interconnectors
between Finland and Estonia as
well as for a gas pipeline through Bulgaria,
Romania, Hungary, and Austria.
But the EU still suffers from bottlenecks
due to missing or underused
infrastructure, the report says. " Interconnections
and, where relevant, internal
lines are still needed to further integrate
the internal electricity market in South
Western Europe and in Northern and Eastern
Europe (e.g. Germany, Poland and the
Czech Republic) and the management
of these interconnections must be improved. "
It also notes that work towards
the synchronization of the Baltic States
with the European electricity system
should continue (Figure 3). " The 15%
electricity interconnection target for
2030 should ensure, provided that this
capacity is made available to the market,
that the European Union can make
optimal use of its renewable resources,
ensure security of supply and market integration. "
Member
states made good progress in
opening up wholesale markets to competition,
but many of them have not fully
implemented necessary rules that " allow
for competitive and liquid markets, " the
report also notes. At a regional level,
largely driven by falling coal and gas
prices, and the gradual penetration of
renewables as well as subdued demand,
wholesale power prices decreased in most
states.
The report urges strengthening cybersecurity
and physical protection of
energy sector installations, as well as addressing
reliability concerns.
Significantly, it calls on member states
to use public resources " smartly, " granting
subsidies only " if in line with the
long-term energy policy of the European
Union. " It said that will avoid stranded
assets and " carbon lock-in " -a situation
where the amount of fossil-fuel capacity
could exceed the levels that correspond
to the EU's long-term decarbonisation
objectives.
Finally, the report highlights lagging
investments in the sector. European inApril
2017 | POWER
vestment in renewables has dropped by
half since 2011 to €44 billion, the report
says. That compares to global investments
in renewables, which have increased
to more than €260 billion.
India Gears Up to Expand
Fast Breeder Reactor
Fleet
India's Department of Atomic Energy,
the entity responsible for research, construction,
and operation of the country's
nuclear power reactors, will build two
prototype fast-breeder reactors (PFBRs)
at Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu. The
site already hosts a 500-MW PFBR that
is expected to be fully operational this
October.
The government body said in early
February that the two PFBRs of 600 MW
each are still in the engineering phase.
Construction of the reactors could begin
by 2021, by which time " adequate perDEDICATED
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POWER April 2017

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