Transnational power transmission and international law

Abstract

Power transmission networks are crucial. Every country requires the means to transport and deliver energy, whether produced locally or in foreign countries. The paper deals with transnational power-transmission networks, those aimed at delivering energy across borders. It considers the challenges posed by transposing to the legal and regulatory fields the unique features of power grids in order to foster transnational network interconnections and unrestrained power transit under international law. The European Union 2020 Energy Policy and the European Transmission System, though still unsuccessful in achieving the creation of a single electricity market, serve as a case study for an enhanced model of regulation, with emphasis on the enforceability of power trading and transit across national borders. The research advances that a well-framed, technically-based, dedicated scope for transnational power grid interconnections and energy transit, at regional level, into ongoing international trading schemes such as the WTO or an improved Energy Charter Treaty, would further international power trading and synchronisation of energy matrices as drivers for international law to achieve greater legitimacy and enforceability.