Stefan Schleicher on the European Electricity Market

"The current situation on the electricity markets will continue to change", said Stefan Schleicher. In Austria, a factor of uncertainty is the politically motivated goal of providing 100 percent electricity from renewable sources by 2050. Schleicher also emphasised that disruptive changes were to be expected: new storage technologies could fundamentally change the current electricity structures. He also pointed out that the liberalisation concept implemented in the 1990s had failed for several reasons. For example, the idea of the European copper plate had never been realised; some countries, such as France, had never participated. Due to the unexpected boom in volatile renewable energies, a market concept based on merit orders and unbundling had simply lost its economic basis.