#911, Friday, October 17, 2003
Business
EU and Russia Agree On Grid Integration
By Alla Startseva
STAFF WRITER
MOSCOW - The European Union
and Russia agreed Thursday to move toward full integration of their
respective electricity grids, an ambitious project both sides said
could be completed by 2007.
"This is a groundbreaking proposal that is of tremendous
interest to us," Anatoly Chubais, CEO of national power
monopoly UES, told reporters after a roundtable meeting between
senior energy officials from both sides.
Europe's top energy and transportation official, Francois
Lamoureux, said the ultimate goal was the complete synchronization
of the massive grids to form a common electricity market and ensure
the safety of energy supplies.
He said he would officially recommend that Brussels and Moscow
draft an agreement establishing joint institutions to work on the
details.
Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko, whose brief includes the
energy sector, led the Russian delegation at Thursday's roundtable,
held under the auspices the EU-Russia Energy Dialog and attended by
more than 50 officials and industry experts.
Chubais, who also represented the Commonwealth of Independent
States at the meeting as chairman of the CIS Energy Council, called
the need for nations to synchronize their power grids "a global
problem."
Khristenko said that in light of the massive blackouts that have
occurred in Europe and America this year, "the problem of the
reliability of power supplies must be rethought."
UES, which has already synchronized the grids of all 14 of
Russia's neighbors, is already studying how to do the same with
Europe, Chubais said.
Experts set up a working group in March to draft a
"comprehensive report" on the issue, said Stephan Gewaltig
of the EU's energy and transport directorate. He said it would be
finalized and presented to Brussels early next year.
Synchronizing electricity grids is a "significant
issue" for the industry as a whole, but it benefits consumers
the most because it increases both the reliability of power supplies
and competition, which eventually leads to lower prices, Chubais
said.
Both sides said it was technically feasible for the EU and Russia
to fully integrate their electricity grids within four years.
"The most optimistic scenario is 2007," Khristenko
said.
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