ENTSOG GRIP South - Main Report

5.5 InterconnectionCapacities in theSouthRegion

5.5.1 Existingcapacities in2014

At the far western side of Europe, the SouthRegion is a privileged gateway for LNG into Europe with up to 43% of the total European LNG send-out capacity (2695  GWh/d). It is locatedat acrossroad for various suppliesbypipelineswithdirect sourcing from Norway andAlgeria, and connections withBelgium, Germany andSwitzerland. France, Spain and Portugal have also developed through the years several infra- structures creating internal interconnection points allowing gas to circulate from North to South and reverse into theRegion. In2013, Spanish-French IP capacityhasbeen increased at Larrau IP capacity from 100 to165GWh/d thanks to the joint effortsof EnagásandTIGF inorder toenhance a larger interconnection capacity at WesternAxis. At PIRMIDI, the IP between French balancing zones, capacity has been increased onbothdirection thanks to the joint effortsof TIGFandGRTgaz inorder toenhancer a better interconnection capacity between balancing zones. Capacities have grown from 325 to 395GWh fromGRTgaz South to TIGF, and from 80 to 255GWh in the opposite direction. FID+nFIDDevelopments at IP’s within the SouthRegion To create the European internal gas market essentially means linking the gas sources or facilities inonecountry (or region) toanother country (or region) through interconnection projects. The effects of this are: \\ Firstly, consumers have access to a larger number of suppliers, and the suppliers have awider choice of supply sources. This increases competition to the benefit of the end consumer. \\ Secondly, in the event of disruptions to the international supply chains, a great- er number of alternative remedies are available to the affected suppliers. As a result, the supply security for consumers in highly interconnected areas is greatly improved. NationalsPlansdevelopedbyTSOsaswell asENTSOGTYNDP2013–2022 include a detailed description of the infrastructures projects planned in the South Region (FID and n-FID) TSOs, cooperating in developing this GRIP, understand the role of creating trans­ mission projects which can contribute to develop the internal EuropeanMarket as well as to reach the EuropeanCommission energy policies. This chapter wewill focus on thedevelopment of internal Region IPs capacities and IPs with other regions in order to provide a clear vision of the current and ongoing development.

5.5.2 Projectedcapacitiesto2022

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ENTSOG–GRIPSouth 2013–2022