Environmental organisations and electricity operators are backing the modernisation and expansion of European power grids to unlock the full potential of renewables.

In a letter sent to Günther Oettinger, European commissioner for energy, nine national grid operators, 10 environmental organisations – including BirdLife International and WWF – and five other organisations said they backing the European Commission’s energy infrastructure plans published last month.

The Chair of the UK’s Energy and Climate Change Committee, Tim Yeo, has highlighted the benefits that a Europe-wide electricity grid would bring to the UK.

In an article published by Renewable Energy Focus he said that the UK’s electricity system is “the least interconnected of all European countries.”

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.

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.

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.