Background

Ambitious climate policy in the triangle of energy political goals sustainability, security of supply, and competitiveness increase the importance of decentralized energy generation and the development of network infrastructure to smart grids. Since 2009 German energy networks are subject to incentive regulation which incentivizes efficient operation of gas and electricity networks. It is an open debate how to advance the regulatory framework such that it supports the necessary developments and the associated investments and innovations as well as coordination in future smart grids.

The research project IRIN - Innovative Regulation for Intelligent Networks - deals with the design of an adequate institutional framework that supports efficient and effective network development towards smart grids. Hence, the research has an emphasis in economic and legal questions.

The IRIN project is a cooperation of the following institutes:

• Bremer Energie Institut at Jacobs University (project leader)
• Institute for Applied Ecology Freiburg
• WIK (Wissenschaftliches Institut für Infrastruktur und Kommunikationsdienste)
• Ruhr-Universität Bochum: Institute for Energy and Mining Law

Each project partner is responsible for one of the following research foci:

• incentive regulation and investment
• network pricing and contracts
• research, development and innovations
• legal framework

The project is funded under the 5th Energy Research Programme of the Federal Government represented by the Federal Ministry of Economics (BMWi).