Sustainable Energy Law Notebook

Voici une décision encore plus attendue en matière de marché intérieur de l'énergie . L'Avocat Général Trstenjak a rendu hier, 28 september 2010, ses conclusions dans l'Affaire C-241/09 Fluxys SA contre Commisison de régulation de l'électricité et du gaz (CREG) (à lire ICI ). La question de droit faisant l'object de cette demande préjudicielle introduite par la Cour d'Appel de Bruxelles, rapportée ici de manière succinte en attendant la décision, est la suivante: Les dispositions de la Directive 2003/55/CE concernant les règles communes pour le marché intérieur du gas natural et du Règlement (CE) No.1775/2005 concernant les conditions d'accès aux réseaux de transport de gaz naturel s'opposent-elles à une loi nationale qui prévoit, au sein de la réglementation pour les tarifs de transport de gaz naturel, des régimes distincts, l'un pour le gaz naturel distribué ou fourni dans un Etat membre, dits tarifs d'acheminement (dans le cas d'espèce...

On 23 September 2010, Adovate General Jääskinen delivered his opinion in Case C-194/09 P Alcoa Trasformazioni Srl ., which is currently pending before the European Court of Justice. The central question of the case to know in which circumstances a measure which was originally found not to constitute state aid in the sense of Article 107 TFEU by the European Commission can be regarded as a different measure when the national authorities make certain modifications to the scheme and extend its duration (see points 23-25). The full text of the opinion is available HERE . Procedure : the case is an appeal by Alcoa Trasformazionin Srl that seeks the annulment of the judgement of the Court of First Instance of 25 March 2009 (the General Court after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty) in Case T-332/06 Alcoa Trasformazioni v Commission and the partial annulment of Commission's Decision 2006/C 214/03 initiating the procedure of Article 108.2 TFEU concerning State aid C 36/06 (ex. NN ...

The First Minister of the Scottish government, Alex Salmond , made an interesting statement along the speech he hold today, talking at the Scottish Low Carbon Investment Conference . He mentioned the commitment of its government to cut CO2 emissions by 42 per cent by 2020 , including a target of at least 80 per cent of electricity demand based on renewable energy . " Scotland is committed to be a major exporter of low carbon electricity and to decarbonise our electricity supply by 2030, through a combination of renewables and clean fossil fuels utilising carbon capture and storage " he said. Indeed, Scotland is deemed to detain a quarter of Europe's capacity in offshore wind and tidal electricity generation . Ambitious predictions. Route Map in hands. The conference was the occasion to release the Scottish Offshore Wind Industry Route Map . The Route Map defines five areas of priority: infrastructure, supply chain and innovation, grid, managing the environment, skills, ...

Adaptation to the Rules relative to the Connection to the Distribution Grid for Small Renewable Energy Generation Plants in the French Ultraperipheric Region of Guadeloupe - This post reviews the newly adopted derogatory regime for the connection to the grid of small renewable energy generation plants in Guadeloupe, based on a Deliberation of 20 July 2010 of the regional council. Le Journal Officiel de ce 28 septembre 2010 reprend la Délibération du 20 juillet 2010 du conseil régional de la Guadeloupe relative au développement des installations de production d'énergie électrique d'origine renouvelable et intermittente , et établissant un dispositif particulier pour leur développement. ( JORF No 0225 du 28.09.2010, p.17519. ) Un contexte particulier pour la production d'électricité verte La production d'énergie électrique à base renouvelable représente de nombreux défis et opportunités pour cetter région francaise et ultrapérophérique de l'Union Européenne. L'in...

The Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) has made public on 23 September its 2011 Work Programme . The Agency, established by Regulation (EC) No. 713/2009 (OJ L 211, 14.08.2009) will become operational on 3 March 2011 with its headquarters located in Ljubljana, Slovenia (see previous post). The 2011 Work Programme will consequently guide ACER's action until December 2011. The 2011 Work Programme focuses on the following areas (p.9): Framework Guidelines for Network Codes, in the priority areas defined by the Commission, will be given the highest oriority, as they are in the critical path for the creation of the internal energy market; Opinions on the compliance of Network Codes with the corresponding Framework Guidelines; ACER's opinion on the draft statutes, list of members and draft rules of procedure of the ENTSOs, in order to allow these associations, which have a central role in developing Network Codes, to become fully operational; Opinion on the 10-ye...

Today, the Norwegian Minister for Petroleum and Energy received a report ordered earlier this year on the measures to be taken to inscrease the level of extraction of petroleum resources from the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) . The report, entitled " Økt utvinning på norsk kontinentalsokkel " has been prepared by a special committee on the topic ( utvinningsutvalget ) . The report contains 44 proposals to be ranged in 5 categories: the regulatory framework; costs and profitability; measures affecting the competition situation on the NCS; test and implementation of more technologies for an increased exploitation; challenges for an increased exploitation within certain technological areas. References : OED press release , 22.09.2010.

The European Parliament has adopted yesterday, 21 September 2010, in first reading of the codecision procedure the proposal for a regulation concerning measures to safeguard security of gas supply , so-called Security of Energy Supply Regulation that will repeal current Directive 2004/67/EC. As announced by the European Commisison in its press release ( IP/10/1151 ), " the new legislation will stregthen the coordination between Member States and ensure that effective action will be taken in advance to prevent and mitigate the consequences of gas supply disruptions ." The text of the regulation as adopted by the Parliament is available HERE . A summary of the regulation will be posted on that blog.

On 28 September 2010 is organised in Oslo an important conference on the role of state-owned companies , in particular with respect to areas of interest for the whole society and with respect to the redistribution of their revenues . Lately, the Norwegian governement has published a proposal on state ownership. See some background parliamentary discussions HERE . See also the pages dedicated to state ownership ( Norwegian version ) on the government website. The programme of the conference can be downloaded HERE . Venue : Tuesday 28 September 2010, 9.00-12.00 am. Ballroom, Nedre Vollgate 11, Oslo, Norway. Organisers: Concerned Scientists Norway and WWF. Short description from the organisers (in Norwegian) : " Statskontrollerte selskaper - flaggskip for fremtiden? Norske statskontrollerte selskaper har vært sentrale i arbeidet med å løfte Norge fra et fattig jordbruksland til et av verdens mest velstående og beste land å bo i. Underveis har også selskapene selv blitt store og m...

The governments of Norway and Russia have announced on 6 September that the historical agreement on the territorial delimitation of jurisdiction between the two countries in the Barents Sea and the Polar Sea will be signed on 15 September 2010 in Murmansk . The prime minister of Norway, Jens Stoltenberg, and the president of the Russian federation, Dmitrij Medvedjev, will be present for the signature undergone by their ministers for foreign affairs. The process for negotiation has been suprisingly rapid compared to the numerous years of jurisdictionnal dispute for the area. Many interests have been pushing for a rapid agreement , including cooperation for the exploitation of fishing resources and the management of petroleum resources . Those two areas of cooperation will give rise to two separate international treaties , which will clarify cooperation and responsibilities in the exploitation of shared deposits in particular. The area in question equals to 176.000 km2 , and will be s...

Det er nok lite informasjon som er lagt ut om utarbeidet av felles norsk-svensk grønt sertifikatmarkedet for å klippe inn pressemelding som Statnett publiserer i dag: " Nettkapasitet intet hinder for sertifikatmarked Svenska Kraftnät og Statnett er enig om å videreføre arbeidet med Sydvestlenken, den nye planlagte ledningen mellom Sverige og Norge i sør. Forutsatt at konsesjoner og nødvendige tillatelser blir gitt kan ledningen være ferdig i 2016. Det er i dag en betydelig utvekslingskapasitet mellom Norge og Sverige som er bygget opp over år. Den er i dag ca 3 000 MW, og kapasiteten vil øke til ca 3 500 MW nåe nye Oslofjordkabler er på plass i 2012. Statnett kan derfor ikke se at utvekslingskapasiteten mellom Sverige og Norge er et hinder for å etablere sertifikatmarked ." (min understrekning) Reference : Press release , 03.09.2010, Statnett; Stortinget, interpellasjon fra representanten Ketil Solvik-Olsen til Olje- og energiministeren, 19. mars 2010; El-sertifikat-marked...