ABSTRACT
The liberalisation and integration of the European electricity market since the late 1990s has led to a lot of change for consumers and providers alike. The positive effects of an increasing number of providers and the following focus on renewable energies have been analysed by multiple agencies and governments. However, the different state and goals of the liberalisation and integration in each European country still lead to problems in the implementation of EU legislation. In this literature-based research, we discuss chances and barriers for expanding the European integrated network from its current state through the example of an expanded trinational energy market in the Trinational Metropolitan Region of the Upper Rhine. We identify different problems such as implementation issues due to cost inefficiency as well as political problems due to differing goals in each country. Political implications and opportunities are discussed at the end of the chapter. This chapter is organised in four parts: firstly, it deals with the European electricity market; second, it considers chances and barriers; third, the potentials of an expanded trinational energy market in the Upper Rhine Region are addressed, as well as political implications in the last section.
