Bear with us! This will be our largest introduction to our monthly news brief so far as the European Commission presented on November 30, 2016 an enormous package (see photo) of measures of updates to its Energy Union. The new package, entitled “Clean Energy for all Europeans” contains three primary goals: putting energy efficiency first (yess binding targets!), achieving global leadership in renewable energies and providing a fair deal for consumers. What has been made clear in the package is the centrality of the consumer in becoming a central player in future energy markets. Demonstrated by the changes and emphasis on transparency and regulation. Thereby making it easier for civil society to get involved and help achieve the EU to cut CO2 emissions by at least 40% by 2030.
In the package the Communication on Accelerating Clean Energy Innovation recognises the importance of energy storage and electro-mobility as a priority area for clean energy research and innovation, next to decarbonisation of the building stock, and the integration of renewables including these topics with a budget of €2 billion in thel 2018-2020 Horizon 2020 Work Programme a 35% increase compared to 2014-2015. In comparison Japan invested $700 mln in energy storage alone in 2015!
Vice-President for the Energy Union, Maroš Šefčovič stated: “Today’s proposals touch upon all clean energy related sectors: research and innovation, skills, buildings, industry, transport, digital, finance to name but a few.”Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Canete said: “Our proposals provide a strong market pull for new technologies, set the right conditions for investors, empower consumers, make energy markets work better and help us meet our climate targets.”
Please find below a preliminary list of important references that our team pulled together in the first hours after publication:
Proposal for Directive on Common Rules for the Eletricity Market (COM2016/864)
‘energy storage’ means, in the electricity system, deferring an amount of the electricity that was generated to the moment of use, either as final energy or converted into another energy carrier’
(Chapter 1, Art 1, Definition 48)
The inclusion of this definition has so far been positively received by EASE, the energy storage association. The definition does not limit energy storage to in and out status but classes storage as the ability to get “power-to-x”. However, this does limit storage to concerning electricity that is connected to the grid.
The same document proposes a balancing responsibility:
(Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the internal market for electricity, Chapter 2, Article 4)
Furthermore, the technical memo for market consumers which accompanies the legislative package indicates that
1.Rules for dispatch have been created to be:
‘adapted to the new market reality, creating a level-playing field for larger generation capacities. Rules on priority dispatch will however be maintained for small-scale renewable installations and emerging technologies to ensure their development’
(Technical Memo: Market Consumers, p.2)
2. Bottlenecks: ‘Grid bottlenecks on the borders will be minimized, among other things by re-investing congestion revenues into the grid’
(Technical Memo: Market Consumers, p.2)
3. The Electricity system: ‘The overall electricity system operation by TSOs will see more coordination on a regional level to ensure most optimal utilisation of the grid and better grid stability’
(Technical Memo: Market Consumers, p.2)
4. This shall be complimented by the creation of a new EU DSO entity:
‘…responsible for putting in place rules on grid management and use and EU-Level cooperation with TSOs. It will also work on the integration of renewables, distributed generation, energy storage, demand response and smart metering systems’
(Technical Memo: Market Consumers, p.2)
Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on common rules for the internal market
Article 15: Active Customers
(a) are entitled to generate, store, consume and sell self-generated electricity in all organised markets either individually or through aggregators without being subject to disproportionately burdensome procedures and charges that are not cost reflective;
(b) are subject to cost reflective, transparent and non-discriminatory network charges, accounting separately for the electricity fed into the grid and the electricity consumed from the grid, in line with Article 59.
1.1. The energy installation required for the activities of the active customer may be managed by a third party for installation, operation, including metering and maintenance
Article 16: Local Energy Communities
(a) are entitled to own, establish, or lease community networks and to autonomously manage them;
(b) can access all organised markets either directly or through aggregators or suppliers in a non-discriminatory manner; EN 68 EN
(c) benefit from a non-discriminatory treatment with regard to their activities, rights and obligations as final customers, generators, distribution system operators or aggregators;
(d) are subject to fair, proportionate and transparent procedures and cost reflective charges;
(e) where relevant, may conclude agreements with the distribution system operator to which their network is connected on the operation of the community network
(a) participation in a local energy community is voluntary;
(b) shareholders or members of a local energy community shall not lose their rights as household customers or active customers;
(c) shareholders or members are allowed to leave a local energy community; in such cases Article 12 shall apply;
(d) Article 8 paragraph 3 applies to generating capacity installed by local energy communities as long as such capacity can be considered small decentralised or distributed generation;
(e) provisions of Chapter IV apply to local energy communities that perform activities of a distribution system operator;
(f) where relevant, a local energy community may conclude an agreement with a distribution system operator to which their network is connected on the operation of the local energy community’s network;
(g) where relevant system users that are not shareholders or members of the local energy community connected to the distribution network operated by a local energy community shall be subject to fair and cost-reflective network charges. If such system users and local energy communities cannot reach an agreement on network charges, both parties may request the regulatory authority to determine the level of network charges in a relevant decision;
(h) where relevant local energy communities are subject to appropriate network charges at the connection points between the community network and the distribution network outside the energy community. Such network charges shall account separately for the electricity fed into distribution network and the electricity consumed from the distribution network outside the local energy community in line with Article 59 paragraph 8.
Article 33: Integration of electro-mobility into the electricity Network
‘ 1. Member States shall provide the necessary regulatory framework to facilitate the connection of publicly accessible and private recharging points to the distribution networks. Member States shall ensure that distribution system operators cooperate on a non-discriminatory basis with any undertaking that owns, develops, operates or manages recharging points for electric vehicles, including with regard to connection to the grid.
(a) other parties, following an open and transparent tendering procedure, have not expressed their interest to own, develop, manage or operate recharging points for electric vehicles;
(b) the regulatory authority has granted its approval.
Article 36: Ownership of storage facilities:
(a) other parties, following an open and transparent tendering procedure, have not expressed their interest to own, develop, manage or operate storage facilities;
(b) such facilities are necessary for the distribution system operators to fulfil its obligations under this regulation for the efficient, reliable and secure operation of the distribution system; and
(c) the regulatory authority has assessed the necessity of such derogation taking into account the conditions under points (a) and (b) of this paragraph and has granted its approval.
The section of the proposal on the promotion of the use of energy from renewables sources highlights that:
“EU energy system projections indicate that current Member States and EU policies, if no new policies are put in place, would only lead to, approximately, 24.3% of renewable energy consumption in 2030. This level would be well below the at least 27% EU level binding renewable energy target as agreed by the European Council, and would prevent the Union from collectively delivering on the commitments made in the 2015 Paris Agreement. The continuation of unchanged policies would also seriously risk undermining the realisation of the Union’s political ambition for world leadership in renewable energy”
(Promotion of the Use of Energy from Renewable Sources, 2016: 2)
It also notes that for the EU there needs to be around or above investment of around or above €1 trillion from 2015 to
2030 in renewable electricity generation alone.
Specifically, the technical review memo accompanying explains the introduction of an obligation
“…on European Transport fuel suppliers to provide an increasing share of renewable and low-carbon fuels, including advanced biofuels, renewable transport fuels of non-biological origin (e.g. hydrogen), waste-based fuels and renewable electricity. The level of this obligation is progressively increasing from 1.5% in 2021 (in energy terms) to 6.8 % in 2030, including at least 3.6% of advanced biofuels. Preferential rules apply to advanced aviation fuels in order to support their deployment in the aviation sector (e.g. their energy content is accounted 20% more).
(Technical Memo: Revised Renewable Energy Directive, 2016 )
(Photo: courtesy Van Hool)
The CTC Network promotes the accelerated transfer of environmentally sound technologies for low carbon and climate resilient development at the request of developing countries.
