Regulations governing the EU wholesale electricity market have become so complex that the integration of the market is regressing instead of progressing, says Peter Styles, Chairman of the Electricity Committee of the European Federation of Energy Traders (EFET), in an interview with Energy Post. He notes TSOs (transmission system operators) on average now make less cross-border electricity transmission capacity available on the EU high voltage … [Read more...]
Legal challenge to Spain’s capacity market payments well-founded
Two Spanish NGO’s have started a court case against Spain’s capacity market scheme, which they say unnecessarily subsidizes operators of large power plants for billions of euros. Gerard Wynn, independent energy consultant, explains why their arguments are well-founded. According to Wynn, Spain’s capacity mechanism violates EU rules and should be scrapped as soon as possible. This article was first published on the blog of the Institute for Energy … [Read more...]
European Council set to wipe out energy efficiency progress, leading to a decade of higher costs
Shockingly, the European Council is on the point of making decisions that will obliterate progress in energy efficiency in the EU, write Jan Rosenow and Richard Cowart of the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP). This will raise energy bills for consumers and companies, lead to worse health, comfort, air quality, and public housing, reduce job opportunities, and make it harder and more expensive to reach EU climate targets. All for the sake of … [Read more...]
The woman who is building a nuclear power plant
Minna Forsström is responsible for a unique project: the first Russian-made nuclear power plant to be built in the E.U. outside of the former Soviet Union. In a personal interview with Energy Post, she reveals how her company, Fennovoima, has coped with extremely demanding regulatory challenges (“you can’t expect to submit a project and have it approved all in one go”), why they chose to work with Rosatom (“they have huge engineering capacity and … [Read more...]
Brussels should stick with its proposal to remove barriers to demand response schemes: the U.S. is doing the same
Energy suppliers are lobbying against a proposal from the European Commission to remove barriers to demand response schemes, writes Philip Baker, Senior Adviser at the Regulatory Assistance Project, an independent consultancy. According to Baker, the Commission should stick with its proposal. Demand response, he argues, will bring great savings to energy consumers. What is more, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in the United States … [Read more...]
Smart meter data hubs: Europe vs. Germany
The European discussion about data management in the energy sector is driven by the smart meter roll-out and the need to reduce market entry barriers via data access, writes Marius Buchmann, Post-Doc at Jacobs University in Bremen, Germany. Most European countries are discussing or have introduced Retail Hubs to facilitate data collection and distribution. Germany already has mechanisms in place to do this and is instead discussing the … [Read more...]
For Eurelectric, it’s incumbents first, competitive markets second
Eurelectric, the association defending the interests of the European electricity industry, presents itself as a defender of the European consumer and the internal energy market. And yet many of its recommendations serve neither, argues Manon Dufour, head of the Brussels office of independent organisation E3G. … [Read more...]
Energy Union requires concrete projects and protection of European interests
To deliver the Energy Union, the European Commission should promote concrete projects, such as equipping all European highways with charging points for electric vehicles. It should also act to protect workers and consumers who get hurt by the energy transition, protect European markets from dumping practices and turn Malta and Cyprus into 100% renewable energy islands, write Enrico Letta, Thomas Pellerin-Carlin and Jean-Arnold Vinois of the … [Read more...]
How to get the Visegrad Group to sign up to the EU’s Clean Energy Package
This year European energy ministers will have to come to a decision on the European Commission’s legislative package “Clean Energy for all Europeans”. Many observers expect the alliance between Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia (known as the Visegrád Group), to try to rein in European ambition on clean energy. But this year may be the start of something different, writes Manon Dufour, head of the Brussels office of independent think … [Read more...]
Energy Union should shift focus from energy to climate
The EU is trying to improve its energy security by building more infrastructure to facilitate gas imports, but the concentration of its gas suppliers keeps increasing, write Stefan Bößner and Douglas Fraser of the Stockholm Environment Institute. According to Bößner and Fraser, it makes more sense to shift the focus of EU energy policy to creating a low-carbon energy system. That will not only help Europe meet its climate targets, but also … [Read more...]
Exclusive – Klaus Shäfer, CEO Uniper: “Security of supply is too important to leave to the market”
The market on its own cannot be relied upon to deliver secure electricity and gas supplies, says Klaus Schäfer, CEO of Eon-spin-off Uniper, in an exclusive interview with Energy Post. According to Schäfer, it will become “dramatically more difficult” to balance the power market as the share of renewables increases. He also sees the gas market becoming “more and more complex” and argues policymakers should establish minimum requirements for gas … [Read more...]
Energy Union: Delivery pending
Electricity market design, renewable energies, energy efficiency – the EU Commission’s recent “Winter Package” touches upon some of the core themes of the envisioned “Energy Union”. But finding agreement on all these dossiers will be difficult in this politically turbulent year, writes Severin Fischer of the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich. According to Fischer, five aspects deserve closer attention. Courtesy Policy Perspectives. … [Read more...]
Gazprom plays ball: the depoliticization of the European gas market
Gazprom’s gas supplies to Europe and Turkey reached an all-time record in 2016. This might suggest Europe is becoming more dependent on Gazprom, but according to Danila Bochkarev, Senior Fellow at the EastWest Institute, the Russian company gained market share by playing by the rules of the market. The European gas market is finally becoming depoliticized. … [Read more...]
France can’t meet its own power demand
France was heavily dependent on power imports from Germany during the first cold spell of this winter, despite the fact that most of the country’s nuclear reactors are back online, writes Craig Morris from the Energy Transition blog. As the US is now also investigating 17 nuclear reactors with parts from reactor producer Areva, just rescued by the French state, it shows the perilous state the French power sector is in. Courtesy Energy Transition. … [Read more...]
How to boost CO2 prices in the European carbon market
If the EU is serious about raising the carbon price in the EU Emission Trading System (ETS), the best option for the short term is to strengthen the Market Stability Reserve by increasing the amount of “surplus allowances” taken out of the system, according to Hæge Fjellheim, Head of carbon analysis  at Thomson Reuters Point Carbon. Fjellheim discusses progress on the ETS reform in light of the recent vote in the European Parliament’s Environment … [Read more...]
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