Changes

The Committee on Regional development in Heidelberg will focus on the power shift from '''centralised to decentralised''' distribution systems. With EU citizens' growing awareness of '''environmental issues''', new '''technological developments''' and '''[[Smart_grid|smart power grids]]''' on the horizon, a shift towards a distributed system that includes consumers and turns them into co-producers is a possible future for Europe's energy union. There are many challenges that have to be met before such a transfer can take place: The '''liberalisation''' of the energy market is still not fully implemented and few investments are in place to fund distributed systems. Moreover, the data recorded through power grids raises questions concerning '''data storage''' and '''protection''' and there is currently no strategy on who would regulate a European-wide power grid and how. Finally, many citizens seem to be “energy illiterate”, lacking the necessary knowledge to participate in a new decentralised system. To overcome these obstacles and ensure a bright future for distributed systems in the energy union is what REGI will cover in committee work and resolution.<br />