Europe Integrates Renewable Energy Through North Sea Grid

While we are all concerned with what calendar will be gracing our walls for the next year, Europe is concerned with much bigger things. Earlier this month Europe announced plans to construct an enormous North Sea electricity grid in 2010. The blueprints for the grid will be released soon following the agreement signed by nine European nations just last month.

A super-grid of such scale could provide, or at least aid in establishing, long-term energy independence for the Europe. This enormous project serves as a vital step towards greater consolidation and integration of this continent’s energy grid. If all goes well the super grid will ideally connect the mass of offshore wind farms in northern Europe to the solar panels in the south. Such a convenience would allow nations to pass along any surplus of energy along to grid to those who need it.

One of the major caveats of renewable technology has been their inability to produce energy around the clock, making it a somewhat unreliable, and unpredictable as the natural elements they rely on. Connecting these to the super-grid, however, will eliminate or at least minimize the shortcomings of inconsistent energy production. Thanks to newly developed cable technology the energy in these distant renewable energy farms can now be allocated to the areas with the greatest need.

Consolidating power makes sense for the consumer as well allowing for overall cheaper utilities since the energy is readily available regardless of location. As a result of this project, renewable energy would be more widely promoted eventually allowing Europe to reach its goal of cutting greenhouse gases by 20 percent by the year 2020. The scope of this project even allows a goal of cutting greenhouse gases by 30 percent realistic.