EU relations<\/strong><\/p>\nOne tactic the UK and EU nations take part in to fill gaps in their electricity generation is with energy trading. This has led to a massive push to construct electricity \u201csuperhighways\u201d \u2013 high voltage direct current (HVDC) interconnectors \u2013 connecting the UK with EU power networks via extensive undersea cables.<\/p>\n
Now the UK is not part of Europe\u2019s free markets, more emphasis is being put on how these negotiations are panning out. Five years on from Brexit, the energy systems and security of the two remain undeniably linked but according to O Regan that does not mean that everything is going well.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt hasn\u2019t been catastrophic \u2013 we haven\u2019t had massive shortages \u2013 but electricity has become more expensive and it already was more expensive because of certain levees,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way electricity is traded between the UK and the EU at the minute has made it more expensive which then gets passed up to consumers in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n
She describes this as \u201cproblematic\u201d but says it\u2019s unlikely to stop while it remains affordable.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything being more expensive needs to be addressed though, especially in the current environment with the current \u2018fiscal black hole\u2019,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
The price of electricity for consumers in the UK has hit Parliament as today, 28 March, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) released a report warning of worryingly high consumer energy debt as the UK\u2019s electricity prices are the highest of countries providing comparable data.<\/p>\n
The PAC\u2019s report states the government has more to do to convince Parliament of the security of UK energy supplies. In the report, which heavily discusses he support schemes government have used to reduce the impact of energy bill price spikes, the PAC calls for more attention to be paid to support for consumers at greater risk of fuel poverty and those falling behind with their energy bills.<\/p>\n
Even after the initial shock of the energy price crisis subsided, the UK had in 2023 the highest electricity bills of countries providing comparable data, the PAC has revealed.<\/p>\n
Trading agreements<\/strong><\/p>\nThe current energy trading arrangements between the EU and UK are defined under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). As O Regan pointed out, the part of the agreement on energy includes an arrangement on the \u201coptimised use of shared infrastructure\u201d, deeper cooperation and improved efficiency.<\/p>\n
A 2022 deadline for developing a new model of electricity trading passed without anything being done, inevitably making energy trading less efficient.<\/p>\n
The TCA, where energy is concerned, will expire on 30\u00a0June next year and all eyes will be on the UK government to negotiate a new agreement. This will play into prime minister Keir Starmer and his Labour government\u2019s intent on resetting the UK\u2019s relationship with the EU, post-Brexit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my mind, and to the mind of UK widely, I think it would be illogical for the government not to look at this with importance,\u201d said Energy UK policy manager Robert Birch.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems like quite a low-hanging fruit in terms of trying to build a stronger UK-European relationship as part of this wider reset, but I would think this would be something the government would really want to focus on.\u201d<\/p>\n
If a new agreement isn\u2019t negotiated by summer next year, there is a sunset clause which would see it extended, reviewed and reapproved on an annual basis.<\/p>\n
European economic think tank Breugel believes that because the agreements on energy in the TCA are technically a temporary arrangement, there is a lack of certainty around energy, dampening business cases for private investors into the UK\u2019s energy markets.<\/p>\n
This is a big concern for industry in the UK.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor industry trying to make decisions about investment, the uncertainty of having a really important bit of legal text that is potentially up for review every year is a real concern,\u201d Birch said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would definitely want a long-term extension to the energy cycle to give us certainty and if it doesn\u2019t apply, there will inevitably be some negative consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lack of certainty around the future of the TCA has further affected the UK\u2019s ability to trade energy efficiently.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhilst there is still ongoing uncertainty around the direction that electricity trading will go in, at the moment, we\u2019re on various inefficient arrangements,\u201d Birch explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government has been negotiating more efficient arrangements with the EU for a very long time now, without necessarily getting too far.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the energy cycle were to expire, then, quite frankly, there wouldn\u2019t really be a need for either side to negotiate the arrangements because that\u2019s all underpinned by the TCA.\u201d<\/p>\n
The TCA also underpins a number of legal documents aiming for further cooperation in the North Seas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are in certain memoranda of understanding, for example, and explicitly state that it will only apply whilst the energy cycle is in place,\u201d Birch said.<\/p>\n
Interconnectors<\/strong><\/p>\nThe UK is currently going through a watershed moment in its proposed extended use of interconnectors to link our grid with EU grids. The UK currently has 9.8GW of interconnector capacity with connections to France, Netherlands, Belgium, Republic of Ireland, Norway and Denmark up and running. Meanwhile, further interconnector projects such as Lion Link (UK to Netherlands), Nautilus (UK to Belgium), Tarchon (UK to Germany) and others are in development.<\/p>\n
There was an expectation before Brexit that the use of interconnectors would continue to define the energy relationship, even after the UK left the bloc. However, a number of concerns over how the energy trading relationship would inevitably change and the impact this could have on the UK\u2019s energy security have arisen, with scaremongerers positing that EU nations could turn off their interconnectors and pipelines to the UK.<\/p>\n
O Regan isn\u2019t necessarily worried about this.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t even know if that is physically possible,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea is that in terms of cutting off pipelines, while it\u2019s technically fine, it is highly unlikely to happen because it\u2019s a relationship that works both ways.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it\u2019s really windy here and you have a still day in France or the Netherlands, we can send that energy over and vice versa.\u201d<\/p>\n
Birch agrees stating the use of interconnectors will be only more important as both the EU and UK grids move towards decarbonisation and outright net zero by 2050.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we get more renewables on the system in the UK and as we move towards a clean power system in the UK, and as similar transitions happen across Europe, there will be a much more variable power system,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cInterconnectors are one of the main tools that we have in the arsenal to balance all of these different things out.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrying to bring together all these different aspects of the grid that we\u2019re going to have in a few years time is really important.<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly, between now and 2050, having an efficient set of rules by which the UK and the EU can both be happy with but also can operate efficiently will be vital in defining the future of the UK EU energy relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like what you’ve read?\u00a0To receive New Civil Engineer’s daily and weekly newsletters click here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the UK looks to decarbonise its grid, maintaining an effective relationship with the European Union (EU) has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128515,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-128514","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114563906475738484","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}