It was standing room only in the Brussels Press Club for the EWEA Public Debate. Over 125 people came to hear the four expert speakers and questions put to them on the topic “Energy Infrastructure – the next great European project?”.

The big news of the night came from Michael Köhler, Head of Cabinet of Commissioner Oettinger in the European Commission. He announced that in the first half of 2012 the Commission will release two communications affecting the whole electricity sector. The first will be about further supporting renewables and the issue of different support schemes in different EU member states. The second, intriguingly, will be about market integration, but Köhler refused to comment further on the issue when questioned.

Today sees the launch of the Free Movement of Electricity website, along with a Facebook page – all on the same day as the beginning of a concentrated effort to bring attention to the vital need for freedom for electricity in the European Union.

The movement is being coordinated by EWEA,  Europacable and EURELECTRIC, in partnership with (in alphabetical order); AEBIOM, Business Europe, E3G, European Climate Foundation, European Copper Institute, EGEC, EPIA, EREC, ESTELA, Friends of the Supergrid, GWEC and Lewiatan. Each one of these partners brings their network of supporters and considerable talents to the table, ensuring that the message of free movement of electricity is spread far and wide.

EU Energy Ministers meeting today in Poland are discussing the need for EU-wide co-operation on electricity interconnections in order to safeguard the EU’s collective energy security.

Talks centre on a paper drawn-up by the Polish Presidency of the EU which says that without an EU-wide strengthening of electricity interconnections, the EU will not be able to achieve an internal energy market.

We’re often wondering how much bigger wind turbines will get – 10 MW, 20 MW, even more? But what about the practicalities of getting those huge components from the factory to the wind farm site?

In the latest Wind Directions, we discuss how new transport equipment is constantly being designed to transport the up to 85 metre long blades and 200 tonne weight nacelles and towers. In fact, the transport can represent 10% of the delivery costs.

From the minimalist ‘T’ pylon, to the slender ‘silhouette’ pylon and the futuristic, longbow ‘plexus’ pylon, the winners of the UK National Grid’s pylon design competition are on display at the Victoria and Albert museum as part of the London Design Festival.

One of the six winning pylon designs – take a look at them here – could replace the current steel lattice pylons that are familiar to the British countryside – a design has hardly changed since it was first conceived in 1927.