Sustainable Energy Law Notebook

The European Commission made public on 29 September 2010 a document providing guidance on the development of wind energy projects in Natura 2000 protected areas . A summary of the Guidance Document will be shortly posted on the SEL Notebook. References : Guidance Document: Wind energy developments and Natura 2000 ; Press release, European Commission, IP/10/1450 .

The European Commission made public yesterday, 27 October, its decision to approve a EUR150 million aid from the Dutch state in favour of a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project located in The Netherlands . The aid will benefit a demonstration project coordinated by a joint venture between E.ON and GDF Suez that plans the construction of a CCS plan in the sea port area of Rotterdam . The plant will capture the carbon dioxide emitted by a coal-fired power plant - Maasvlakte Power Plant 3 - operated by E.ON (a 250 MW equivalent capture plant for an expected annual capture of 1.1 million tons of CO2). The construction of power plant has itself started in 2008 and is planned to reach full operation in 2011/2012. The project forms part of the initiative "Rotterdam Capture Storage and Demonstration Project" (ROAD) , a partnership between E.ON, Electrabel and GDF Suez. The gas captured will then be transported by pipeline for storage in a depleted gas field under the P-18 A...

I published on 14 October in the Oil Gas and Energy Law online Journal (OGEL) a review on a recent book dedicated to the analysis of one of the main support schemes in favour of renewable energy generation, i.e. feed-in tariffs (FITs) . The references of the book reviewed are: Powering the Green Economy - The Feed-in Tariff Handbook , by M. Mendonca, D. Jacobs and B. Sovacool (Earthscan, 2010) .

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is not only investing in renewable energy like offshore wind but also in conventional energy sources for security of supply. The EIB and DONG Energy have signed today a loan agreement of EUR 150 million for a project aimed to pump the Norwegian gas located in the Trym field via the Danish platform Harald . This will allow the development of a field identified for a long time but not yet exploited. The field already received some financing from the EIB in 2009 (see HERE ). The Trym's Plan for Development and Operation (PDO) was approved earlier in March 2010 by the Norwegian authorities. Here are reproduced some parts of the press release: " Trym was first discovered in 1989 but not explored, partly due to low market prices at the time. The field is located in the Sourthern part of the Norwegian North Sea zone near the Danish platform Harald. The project includes well drilling, subsea pipelines and related work worth a total of approximatel...

The EU Commissioner for Energy, Günther Oettinger, exposed the first results of a public consultation on the future EU energy strategy 2011-2020, at the occasion of a stakeholder strategy conference held on 30 September in Brussels. Background for the new EU energy strategy 2011-2020 After the adoption of the first EU Energy Action Plan by the European Council in March 2007 (COM(2007)1), the Commission was asked to prepare a new Action Plan for the period ahead. The Commission answered this demand by opening a public consultation from May to July 2010. The Stock taking document details the background for the new document. The next step will be the adoption of the EU Energy Action Plan 2011-2020 in early 2011 , and the drafting of an Energy Roadmap for 2050 (consultation to start in November). Four guiding principles The Commissioner has identified four guiding principles for the elaboration of the EU energy strategy 2011-2020: Continuation - The new strategy will not be a change bu...

Last month I had the great honor to be nominated as Norwegian member of the Nordic Editorial Council to the legal journal RETFÆRD , Nordic Journal of Law and Justice . RETFÆRD welcomes submissions corresponding to its focus theme: The works published in Retfærd analyse the law from a theoritical and practical point of view on the basis of not only jurisprudence, but also sociology, criminology, political science, history, philosophy, economics, ecology, anthropology, feminism and other sciences. The journal therefore contributes to the interdisciplinary of legal scholarship in a way that not only unveils relations of dominance in the law, but also docuses on critical legal science as an emancipatory endeavour. For these reasons, Retfærd published articles that examine law in broader context and challenge prevailing views on the law. In addition to articles, the journal occasionally publishes essays and debating points, which seeks to put new themes on the scientific agenda or comment...

Le Sénat a adopté en première lecture le 30 septembre 2010 le projet de loi sur la nouvelle organisation du marché de l'électricité en France , dite Loi NOME (voir posts antérieurs: premier lecture Assemblée nationale (AN); rapport parlementaire AN ). Cette dernière vise tant la mise en oeuvre des dispositions de la nouvelle directive européenne électricité 2009/72/EC qu'aux adaptation nécessaires suite aux mises en garde de la Commisison européenne à l'encontre de l'organisation du marché francais. Deux mesures phares des débats ont été l'obligation faite à EDF de revendre une partie de sa production électrique d'origine nucléaire à ses concurrents à prix coutant, et le maintien des tarifs réglementés. Le Sénat a transmis le texte adopté à l'Assemblée nationale pour une seconde lecture. La Commission des Affaires Economiques est chargée de l'examen du texte.