Wind power in the European Union: grid connection and regulatory issues

Wind power has reached an average market growth of 40% in Europe over the last decade. The wind power capacity attained in 2005 the European commission´s 40 GW target for 2010, live years in advance. The continuous rise of fuel prices and the commitment to the Kyoto agreement push this growth constantly further. But this phenomenon is not accidental. Policies and grid codes have been redesigned in the last years in almost all the European countries in order to match this increasing amount of intermittent generation. Different economic incentives were offered to wind power and changing grid requirements were asked from these technologies. Industry, government and power market had to develop a system with no precedents. Currently, no optimal solution is found as each country chooses its own procedure according to its own conditions, intensions and peculiarities. Here, a study of the current policies, regulations and models that give priority to wind power in the European power system is carried out