URSO Criticises EU's Electricity Plan, Claiming It Ignores Nuclear Power

Bratislava, 29 July (TASR) - Nuclear energy is one of the stable pillars of large-scale electricity supplies, but the European Commission has ignored it in its new action plan, said chairman of the Office for the Regulation of Network Industries (URSO) Jozef Holjencik in a statement on Wednesday, adding that member states should insist on a more realistic, technically sound and financially sustainable approach to electricity. "We consider the greatest shortcoming to be the ongoing effort to 'force' energy generated from renewable sources across the whole of Europe, which only unnecessarily increases transmission and distribution costs while simultaneously overloading transmission system capacities," said Holjencik, adding that electricity will only fulfil its role as the most accessible source when it is generated from stable sources and each member state produces enough energy to meet its own needs. The authority considers the aim to double the share of electricity in the EU's end energy consumption by 2040 to be ambitious, but without clear support for stable sources this is more of a political aspiration than a technically sound target. The plan sets a target of 46 percent, while the current share stands at 23 percent. URSO also stated that in the action plan the European Commission is concentrating powers within itself while passing on the costs to member states. Conversely, it welcomes the effort to accelerate the roll-out of smart metering systems. However, it regards many other proposals merely as "a repetition of old arguments without any realistic implementation strategy". am/df