Sustainable Energy Law Notebook

English The second wide Environment Bill of the last few years, so-called Grenelle II, has been adopted yesterday by the French Parliament, 29 June 2010. The details of the core energy provisions will be published in a later post. French Le projet de Loi portant Engagement National pour l'Environnement, dit Loi Grenelle II, a été adoptée hier, 29 juin 2010. Le détail des mesures phares du textes en matière d'énergie est à venir. Voir également l'excellent blog d'Arnaud Gossement . References : Website of Le Grenelle de l'Environnement ; Website of the Ministry (Ministère de l'Energie, de l'Ecologie, du Développement Durable et de la Mer); The legislative procedure .

English Today has been published in the Official Journal (JORF) the Decision of the French Energy Regulator (Commission de Régulation de l'Energie) relative to a dispute on connection to the electricity grid for a biomass plant. The claim was made by Centrale Biomasse de Chamdeniers (CBC) against the distribution system operator (Gérédis Deux-Sèvres) and the electricity provider Séolis on the terms and conditions for connection. A summary of CRE's decision will be added shortly. French Est paru au Journal Officiel de ce jour la décision de la Commission de Régulation de l'Energie concernant un différend relatif aux conditions de raccordement d'une centrale de production électrique de biomasse à un réseau privé de distribution. Le différend a été porté devant le comité de règlement des différends et des sanctions de la CRE par la société Centrale Biomasse de Champdeniers à l'encontre du gestionnaire de réseau public de distribution Gérédis Deux-Sèvres et du fournisse...

Les dispositions du projet de Loi portant Engagement National pour l'Environnement (Grenelle II) sont discutées une dernière fois par la Commission Mixte Paritaire (CMP) au sein du Sénat ce 28 juin 2010 et au sein de l'Assemblée Nationale le 29 juin 2010. Suivi du dossier législatif sur le site du Sénat , sur le site de l'Assemblée Nationale ainsi que Rapport au nom de la CMP (Sénat/AN) sur les dernières dispositions restant en discussion (N.2635 AN/ N.567 Sénat) du 17 juin 2010.

On 24 June, the European Commission has sent 35 reasoned opinions to 20 Member States in relation to the implementation of second energy liberalisation package. The EU legislation which the European Commission suspects the non-implementation or non-conform implementation concerns: Access conditions to transmission networks , with entailed consequences for transparency and capacity increase in the context of cross-border trade: Regulation (EC) No. 1228/2003 on conditions for access to the network for cross-border exchanges in electricity, as amended; Regulation (EC) No.1775/2005 on conditions for access to the natural gas transmission networks. Here the Commission's concerns focus on: management of network congestion and information on capacity at interconnectors; network charges; balancing rules and inbalances charges; TSO role regarding transparency requirements, and regarding TPA services; capacity management (in particular the absence of interruptible reverse flow capacity, blac...

Humorists can also be a source of self-reflection on the sustainable energy paradigm throughout the last decades, and the time and efforts it takes to reach energy independence. To play the video, click on the picture or here : Jon Stewart Daily Show , 16 June 2010.

A crucial element of security of energy supply is energy storage . The recent decision by the European Commission in state aid case N 660/2009 is illustrative of that growing concern, and of the wish to enable more capacity storage in Member States. The Nature and Purpose of The Aid The aid (notified by Polish authorities) concerns state grants for a total of 390 million EUR. The exact nature of the aid is not detailed further yet. The grants aim to support the construction of 3 storage sites and the increase in capacity of one underground gas storage site in Poland ( 4 sites in total ). The beneficiary is the state-owned gas company Polskie Gornictwo , the dominant player on the Polish market. The projects are deemed to be ' open to all operators at regulatored conditions ' since the new gas storage capacity is supposed to be made available to all competitors, avoiding market distortion according to the assessment done by the Commission's services. Energy Storage and S...

Two new texts relating to the certification criteria for biofuels and bioliquids have been published in the Official Journal of the EU: Communication (2010/C 160/01) from the Commission on voluntary schemes and default values in the EU biofuels and bioliquids sustainability scheme ; Communication (2010/C 160/02) from the Commission on the practical implementation of the EU biofuels and bioliquids sustainability scheme and on counting rules for biofuels . Reference : OJEU C160 of 19 June 2010 .

On 1 September 2010 the European Law Network of the University of Oslo will organise a conference on the implications of the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty for EU Law. Topic : European Law Post-Lisbon. Includes following topics: EU institutional structure, fundamental rights, general principles like consistency, Article 11 TFEU, financial markets and economic policy. Venue : Faculty of Law, Domus Academica, Gamle Festsal, Oslo. Full programme and registration form available HERE .

Two important Directives have been published in today's Official Journal of the EU ( OJEU L 153 of 18.06.2010 ): Directive 2010/30/EU of 19 May 2010 on the indication by labelling and standard product information of the consumption of energy and other resources by energy-related products ; Directive 2010/31/EU of 19 May 2010 on the energy performance of buildings (recast).

In 2010, the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) and the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) joined forces in the organisations of wind energy-related events throughout the globe . Some websites celebrating the event: In Europe EWEA Global Wind Day website: http://www.globalwindday.org/ In the United States http://www.globalewinddayusa.com/

The importance of safety regulation of offshore oil and gas drilling has been dramatically recalled to us with the human and environmental catastrophy of the Gulf of Mexico. The University of Oslo, Scandinavian Institute of Maritime Law is organising on 25-27 August 2010 a legal seminar of these particular issues of safety regulation. Location: Alta, Norway. More information at: Scandiavian Institute of Maritime Law , UiO.

Le Rapport d'Information publié par le Sénat francais en avril dernier inaugure une réflexion intéressante sur le rôle des organes législatifs dans la "prospective" . Ce rapport fait suite à la création par l'Arrêté No.2009-95 du Bureau du Sénat du 7 Avril 2009 d'un organe de réflexion sur le futur ( délégation sénatoriale à la prospective ), qui est venu remplacer le Groupe sénatorial de prospective. Il s'inscrit ensuite dans le cadre d'une mission d'étude sur la Commission pour l'Avenir du parlement monocaméral finlandais, l' Eduskunta . Au-delà de la description de l'organisation et des missions de la Commission finlandaise, je voudrais ici prendre note du rôle donné à ce type de commission et poser une question plus politique/institutionnelle que juridique: la prospective doit-elle se limiter à une démarche parlementaire ou peut-elle devenir un outil de consensus sur les grandes orientations nationales (y compris énergétique)? Dans son...

The European Commission has adopted on 10 June two Communications and one Decision on the issue of sustainable biofuels certification : Communication on the practical implementation of EU biofuels and bioliquids sustainability scheme and on counting rules for biofuels; Communication on the voluntary schemes and default values in the EU biofuels and bioliquids sustainability scheme; Commission Decision on guidelines for the calculation of land carbon stocks for the purpose of Annex V of Directive 2009/28/EC. A forthcoming post will detail the content of these measures. References : Press release, European Commission, IP/10/711 ; FAQ, European Commission, MEMO/10/247 .

Reversibility: Back to Regulated Tariffs for Small Energy Consumers in France La Loi No.2010-607 du 7 juin 2010 autorisant les petits consommateurs domestiques et non domestiques d'électricité et de gaz naturel à accéder ou à retourner au tarif réglementé est parue au JORF No.130 du 8 juin 2010. Le texte est entré en vigueur ce 9 juin 2010. La Loi porte modification de deux lois: Loi No.2004-803 relative aux services publics de l'électricté et du gaz et aux entreprises électriques et gazières (Art. 30-1 V); Loi No.2005-781 de programme fixant les orientations de la politique énergétique (Art. 66 (V), 66-1, 66-2, 66-3). Ces amendements permettent aux petits consommateurs de prolonger le dispositif de réversibilité qui devait prendre fin au 1 juillet 2010 conformément à la nouvelle organisation du marché de l'électricité.

Le rapport No. 2557 du député J.-C. Lenoir sur le projet de loi portant nouvelle organisation du marché de l'électricité (Loi NOME) est disponible ICI . J'avais déjà succintement introduit l'objet de ce projet de loi dans une précédente note . Une analyse du rapport sera bientôt disponible sur ce même blog.

The European Parliament is hosting today and tomorrow, 7 and 8 June 2010, a Joint Parliamentary Meeting (JPM) entitled "Towards a European Energy Community for the 21st Century." This is a follow-up event after the publication of a joint Declaration by Mr. Buzek, President of the European Parliament and Mr. Delors, former president of the European Commission. The Declaration was officially adopted on 5 May. The event also follows up the publication of a more detailed report, "Towards a European Energy Community: A Policy Proposal" which has been commented in a previous post. The conclusions of the JPM will be reported on this blog. Reference : Website of the JPM.