[en] Demand-side flexibility and demand response to high prices are prerequisites for the proper functioning of the Nordic power market. If the consumers are unwilling to respond to high prices, the market may fail the clearing, and this may result in unwanted forced demand disconnections. Being the TSO of Western Denmark, Eltra is responsible of both security of supply and the design of the power market within its area. On this basis, Eltra has developed a new mathematical model tool for analysing the Nordic wholesale market. The model is named MARS (MARket Simulation). The model is able to handle hydropower and thermal production, nuclear power and wind power. Production, demand and exchanges modelled on an hourly basis are new important features of the model. The model uses the same principles as Nord Pool (The Nordic Power Exchange), including the division of the Nordic countries into price areas. On the demand side, price elasticity is taken into account and described by a Cobb-Douglas function. Apart from simulating perfect competition markets, particular attention has been given to modelling imperfect market conditions, i.e. exercise of market power on the supply side. Market power is simulated by using game theory, including the Nash equilibrium concept. The paper gives a short description of the MARS model. Besides, focus is on the application of the model in order to illustrate the importance of demand response in the Nordic market. Simulations with different values of demand elasticity are compared. Calculations are carried out for perfect competition and for the situation in which market power is exercised by the large power producers in the Nordic countries (oligopoly). (au)

[en] The peak power balance in the Nordic power system is gradually turning to be very tight, especially in the electric area of southern Sweden and eastern Denmark. Power stations are closed and hardly any investments in new production are carried out. Demand response is considered essential when the formation of spot prices shall send the signal of needed investments in new capacity. Demand response which are based on individual preferences, and carried out automatically, can be one way to increase the volume of price elastic demand. Demand response need hourly metering for calculation and documentation of the decrease in demand, and controllability in order to meet the timing requirements. Within the EU SAVE project EFFLOCOM (2002 - 2004), a Danish demand response pilot project was established in 2003 including 25 single family homes with direct electrical heating. The system has been tested during the winter 2003/2004. The tested technologies include hourly metering, communication by GRPS as well as the Internet. GPRS is used for daily remote meter reading and automatic control of the electric heating including individual control of up to five zones. The system is designed for automatic activation when the Nord Pool hourly Elspot prices exceed preset levels. The system can also be used as regulating power. The EFFLOCOM Web Bite includes an interactive demonstrator of the system. The developed customer Web Bite is including the services: 1) Access to setting the limits for the maximum duration of interruption for up to five different control zones for two periods of the day and for three price levels. 2) Access to stop an actual interruption. 3) A report on the hourly, daily, weekly and monthly use of electricity and the saved bonus by demand response control. The report is updated daily. The goals of up to 5 kW controlled per house were fulfilled. Besides the demand response bonus the customers have also saved electricity. A customer survey did show that the customers wanted to continue with the system. The Danish TSO's have decided to continue the pilot in the winter 2004/2005 including some new features. (au)

[en] This annual report gives a survey of projects supported within the framework of the Matfo and Ma-Tech programs. These projects focus on research into materials for innovative: 1. information technology, 2. energy technology, 3. traffic engineering, 4. medical engineering, and 5. production engineering applications and on 6. general materials research and new fields. The descriptions of individual projects indicate project goals and work schedules, names of important sub-contractors, and total costs and the funds contributed by BMFT. Information added in an annex includes inter alia a list of publications, lectures, contracts, or patents resulting from project activities in the year 1994. (MM)

[en] After the results of the votes and in the frame of 'Energy 2000' the government called for the so-called energy peace which would enable an unimpeded and safe operation of the existing nuclear power plants and a constructive co-operation between supporter and opponents of the nuclear energy in order to find optimal solutions for the future needs. Due to this situation the project 'Kaiseraugst' has been stopped and the projects 'Graben' and 'Verbois' are not being continued by the electricity economy despite the fact that the approval for the locations was given. The industry has considerably reduced its activities in the field of nuclear energy or transferred them abroad. The research is concentrated at the Paul Scherer Institut (PSI), that continues to provide most of the scientific services for the nuclear power plants and the safety authority (HSK). The pre-conditions for the erection of a new nuclear power plant are discussed. (orig./DG)

[en] With the MEP subsidy regulation 'Environmental quality of electricity production' The Dutch minister of Economic Affairs focussed mainly on reaching the policy objective of the EU according to which 9% of all electricity used in the Netherlands should be generated with sustainable sources. According to the opinion of the Dutch Court of Audits not enough attention has been paid to the coherence of the MEP regulation with other policy objectives in the area of sustainability, such as air quality and CO2 reduction. The same goes for the effectiveness and the financial management of the MEP regulation. Moreover, the study, which was carried out by request of the Dutch Lower House, demonstrates that it is still uncertain if the policy objective for 2010 will be reached. The report consists of two parts: part 1: Conclusions, recommendations and administrative reactions, and Part 2: Answering Lower House questions.(mk)

No abstract available

[en] Initiatives involving stakeholder engagement have gained increasing importance in sustainable decision making for many risk-related issues. This paper describes a Belgian experience within a European context related to food management options in the event of a radioactive contamination of the food chain. Under the auspices of the European Commission's 5. Framework Programme, the F.A.R.M.I.N.G. (F.A.R.M.I.N.G. 2000) project (co-ordinated by H.P.A.) a stakeholder network was established in a number of European countries, following a successful approach originally adopted in the UK. In a comparable approach, national working groups were thus established in Belgium, Finland, France and Greece in order to organise stakeholder panels and to discuss the outcomes of scientific and technical research related to management options for the food chain. The results of these panels were exchanged between participating Member States and on a wider international basis at the W.I.S.D.O.M.2. workshop in 2003. The F.A.R.M.I.N.G. project had many achievements and there were also several important lessons learned for Belgium (Vandecasteele et al., 2005): Firstly, many stakeholders showed a real interest in tackling problems relating to food chain contamination; Secondly, the Belgian agricultural system is very intensive and technically and economically optimised, making many of the options envisaged difficult to implement; thirdly, the applicability of management options is also limited by political and legal issues (e.g. competencies, environmental legislation), operational constraints (e.g. waste treatment, supplies of materials), societal and ethical aspects (e.g. milk disposal to sea, animal welfare), and economics (e.g. who pays the intervention cost?); fourthly, there is a now a greater awareness of these problems in both the food production sector and among the experts involved in emergency management; Fifthly, increased attention is now given in Belgium to the medium and long term management of a contaminated area than it was previously the case; Sixthly, the F.A.R.M.I.N.G. project has contributed to an organisational change in the Belgian emergency organisation through the creation of a special advisory committee for socio-economic aspects. The international dimension created by the F.A.R.M.I.N.G. network is of utmost importance. The W.I.S.D.O.M. workshop highlighted that there are plenty of differences between countries, both in their approach to the stakeholder process and in the management options finally considered as acceptable. These differences are partly due to parameters such as climate, soil and intensity of agricultural system, but also to cultural differences and variability in the organisation of emergency management. The successful outcome of the F.A.R.M.I.N.G. project has enabled further work involving stakeholder engagement to continue under the auspices of the 6. Framework Programme integrated project E.U.R.A.N.O.S.. Stakeholder panels are currently being convened for developing a generic handbook for the management of food production systems in Europe, based on a previous UK handbook. At this stage, feedback from the stakeholders is leading to considerable modifications of the original document. The adapted version will later be discussed within the stakeholder panels, prior to the final release. (authors)

[en] The recommendation on the title subject was addressed to the Steering Group Wadden Sea Provinces and concerns the environmental impact of the planned wind turbine array on the Afsluitdijk highway and dike between the Dutch provinces Noord-Holland and Friesland. In planning this wind farm the environmental impacts have to be taken into account. For decisions to be made on wind turbine arrays with a total capacity of 20 MW or more an environmental effect report (MER, abbreviated in Dutch) has to be drafted. A starting memorandum has been drafted for the title project (IPWA) and commented by the WaddenAdviesRaad

[en] With this letter the cabinet sketches their vision on the position and the long term perspective of the Dutch industry and the policy that is required to strengthen the position of the industry and related services in the coming years. [mk]

[en] Short communication. 7 refs, 2 figs, 1 tab