Smart grids: levers towards reducing disparities between cities or targets on the European energy innovation map?

Abstract

The energy market liberalization in Europe strives to be more than an aggregation of functional energy national systems, but a smart and unified approach to a market subjected to various disparities amongst states. Given that states are characterized by distinctive levels of investments in the innovation sector, as well as the technological one, a swift and harmonized market liberalization seems to be more a desiderate, rather than an actual objective. The objective of this research is to deliberate and analyse to which extend a smart grid, in its whole mechanics, may reduce the number of disparities between European cities. Moreover, the research will try to depict a smart approach towards implementing successful models of smart grids on markets not yet matured. In this paper I will refine and further deliberate concepts that I have advanced during my Doctoral research in the field of energy market liberalization, but now on a more evolved and in-detail approach; trying to answer to questions such as: is the actual liberalized energy market capable to successfully sustain a smart grid/ smart network approach? And if yes, are the smart consumers enabled to use the advantages, such as smart metering, to full potential? The main result of this research will be to create a matrix, based on comparative research and case study approach, of existing capabilities on the Romanian energy market versus the European ones, thus advancing further recommendations to future approaches; for example, what would enable consumers to become fully operational as smart consumers and which are the state policies that can transform the emergy market in asmart grid enabled one. Through this paper, I will advance the existing debates concerning the energy market in Romania, but from a more scientific approach, one under the umbrella of the political science approach.