33. Considers that cross-border markets for electricity balancing services must be created and that the European transmission system must be developed quickly to facilitate the cross-border integration of pumped-storage hydropower, particularly in Scandinavia, the Alps and the Pyrenees;

32. Underlines the potential of smart grids, demand side management tools and energy storage solutions, both to facilitate the best possible integration of RES-E and to even out grid fluctuations; re-emphasises the urgent need for further research into, and deployment of, electricity storage including on the basis of cooperation with pumped-storage hydroelectric plants; notes in particular the need for further research into variable-speed storage options, which offer a more flexible system for controlling storage speeds and thus facilitate faster and better-matching connections; calls on the Member States to avoid imposing a double ta ...[+++]x burden on electricity storage operators;

3. For the purposes of paragraph 1(a), gross final consumption of electricity from renewable energy sources shall be calculated as the quantity of electricity produced in a Member State from renewable energy sources, excluding the production of electricity in pumped storage units from water that has previously been pumped uphill.

Further, electricity produced in pumped storage units from water that has previously been pumped uphill should not be considered to be electricity produced from renewable energy sources.

the total installed capacity, net of pumped storage, of all hydropower plants of the Member State at the end of year i, measured in MW.

the quantity of electricity actually generated in year i by all hydropower plants of the Member State measured in GWh, excluding production from pumped storage units using water that has previously been pumped uphill;