Posted on February, 15 2013

This briefing paper is WWF European Policy Office’s response to the recent European Commission’s consultation on generation adequacy, capacity mechanisms and the internal market in electricity.

Some stakeholders, particularly fossil fuel power generators, have voiced concerns that the integration of increasing levels of variable renewable energy into power grids could lead to temporary miss-matches between supply and demand. These same stakeholders often propose capacity mechanisms that pay fossil fuel generators to be ‘on-standby’ if the sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing to ensure that the lights stay on.

This consultation response shows that this is an overly simplistic characterisation of the current situation, and a self-interested response. Instead of a focus on supporting generation, this consultation response recognises that a more sophisticated approach is needed to match variable supply with flexible demand. In this way we can remain on track to a fully renewable energy supply without risking the lock-in of fossil fuels and nuclear energy.