Electricity networks in Europe: NORDEL (Iceland, Denmark,
Sweden, Norway, and Finland), IPS/UPS (the entire former Soviet bloc, including
Lithuania), and UCTE (all other European continental countries).
The purpose of the European power generation system is to satisfy electricity
demand with an adequate quality of service at the best cost. In Europe, electricity is
generated using different types of energy sources. These sources are, among others, oil,
natural gas, coal, hydro, wind, solar systems, biomass, geothermal, and nuclear energy.
Several power plants used for generation of electricity in the region are reaching its
operational life and, for this reason, should be replaced with new and more efficient
power plants with low CO2 emissions. It is important to highlight that electricity
production is responsible for 32 % of total global fossil fuel use, but in several EU
countries this figure is lower and continued to decline in recent years. Improving the
efficiency of electricity production, therefore,
The replacement of old and inefficient power plants should be carried out on the
basis of the following goals:
• A significant reduction of CO2 emissions;
• The generation of electricity at minimal possible cost;
• The reduction of primary energy consumption;
• An increase in the security of energy supply.
For this reason, the expansion of the electricity generation capacity should not be
considered an isolated issue that only concerns the electricity sector, but should be
treated as a key aspect in the formulation of the overall European sustainable energy
strategy (Tzamis et al. 2009).
According to the IEO (2013) report, world net electricity generation is expected
to increase by 93 %, from 20.2 trillion Kwh in 2010 to 39 trillion kWh in 2040.
Electricity supplies an increasing share of the world’s total energy demand and is
the world’s fastest-growing form of delivered energy. World electricity delivered to
end-users is expected to rise by 2.2 % per year from 2010 to 2040, compared with
average growth of 1.4 % per year for all delivered energy sources. In general,
projected growth in OECD countries, where electricity markets are well established
and consumption patterns are mature, is slower than in non-OECD countries, where
at present many people do not have access to electricity. The electrification of
historically off-grid areas plays a strong role in determining relative growth. The
IEA estimates that 19 % of the world’s population, or about 1.3 billion people (IEA
2012), did not have access to electricity in 2010.