During the last ten years the power supply industry in Europe has been a subject of liberalization, which has changed fundamental rules of the power system operation and trade of energy. The first directive on market liberalization was issued in 1996 opening the door to the development of the electricity markets in European Community countries.

The second directive EC/54/2003 aims at the entirely free trade of electricity allowing all customers including households to select the electricity supplier in 2007. The directive has also introduced unbundling resulting in the separation of competitive trade of electricity and regulated network services. The regulation 1228/2003 opens electricity markets to international trade.
The lecture discuss the impact of the liberalization introduced by the European Commission on the power supply industry and electricity customers. The following topics are presented:

The Directive EC/54/2003 and its major regulations
Electricity markets as a universal measure to reduce the cost of production and delivery
Crossborder power flow and trade
Distributed generation and renewable energy sources
New challenges for:

o Power producers

o Transmission system operators

o Distribution system operators

o Electricity users

o Research and Academia

o IT technologies

The analysis is illustrated by examples from various European countries.

Plenary Lecture 4

Prof. Dr-Eng. Christian Bouquegneau

Faculté Polytechnique de Mons, Belgium

Abstract

The mechanism of thunderbolts development was not known one century ago; it is nowadays thanks to great technological improvements applied to measurements. In a cloud-to-ground discharge, the return stroke is upward though the leader can be either downward or upward, either negative or positive. Special attention is given to the negative ground flash formation and the attachment process. Up to date distributions of lightning peak currents and other current parameters are presented and comments made on thunderclouds, electrosphere phenomena (thunderstorms contribute to the electrical equilibrium of the Earth) and the lightning flash density around the world.
Four ways of studying lightning are emphasized:

in the high-voltage laboratory the formation and the initial propagation of the positive upward leader is simulated (estimation of the electric fields parameters)
by artificially triggered lightning in open air with a small rocket trailing a conducting wire, an insulated wire or a mixed conductor-insulator wire (validation of the previous parameters)
the actual phenomenon can be detected and observed with electro-optical devices or other instrumented lightning rods
mathematical models help us to better understand the lightning protection efficiency (from the electrical characteristics of the concerned leaders estimated in the laboratory and validated in nature) in the competition between various leaders

Facing the future, a lot of research work has to be done to solve numerous unknowns:

we do not have enough experimental data to distinguish between the characteristics of the three types of cloud discharges: intracloud, intercloud and cloud-to-air flashe
the mechanisms of formation and cloud electrification are not completely known
the detailed physics of the preliminary breakdown and following sequences of the flash is not complete
we do not possess enough data on natural lightning around the world

All these subjects will be covered with a special emphasize on our missing knowledge and future research!