Sustainable Energy Law Notebook

Along December 2010 and a few weeks before the official visit of President Hu Jintao to the United States on 19 January , clean energy technologies have been raised several times as a core trade issue between the two countries . The most dramatic event was the complaint made by the U.S. government against China's subsidies to wind energy technologies. The most positive aspects of the bilateral trade negotiations relates to smart grid technologies. Wind Power Equipments: The United States contests the legality of China's subsidies to wind energy technologies under WTO rules On 22 December, the United States came with a new claim against China's subidy policy in favour of its national wind energy industry . The U.S. government accuses China of subsidising manufacturers of wind turbines equipments and related components in a manner that goes against WTO rules . Chinese manufaturers would have benefited from government grants since 2008 under the national Special Fund for Wind ...

The Energy Research Center of The Netherlands ( ECN ) has just published an interesting report mapping the renewable energy projects of 26 Member States of the European Union (EU), based on the National Renewable Energy Action Plans published in June. The study is available HERE . References : ECN , for the European Environment Agency, Renewable Energy Projections as Published in the National Renewable Energy Action Plans of the European Member States , Doc. ECN-E--10-069, 13 December 2010.

The EFTA Surveillance Authority ( ESA ) has adopted today five individual decisions in favour of wind energy power projects in Norway . The state aid element originates from the public support granted to the projects through the national Energy Fund Scheme , managed by Enova . The latter has been first approved by ESA for a period running from 2006 to 2010. Today, the Energy Fund Scheme got also a prolongation period of one year until end of 2011, date of the entry into function of the green certificates scheme (see previous post). The legality of the aids has been assessed on the background of the State Aid Guidelines for Environmental Protection . The beneficiaries are: Kvalheim Kraft DA (8 turbines, NOK 92.8 mill.); Jæren Energi AS (32 turbines, NOK 511 mill.); Nordkraft Vind AS (11 turbines, NOK 200.1 mill.); Nord-Trøndelag Elektrisitetsverk Energi AS (16 turbines, NOK 228 mill.); Norsk Miljø Energi Sør AS (31 turbines, NOK 388 mill.) In the press release, the Authority reports t...

The Norwegian Ministry for Petroleum and Energy has announced today the establishment of an Energy Committee (Energiutvalget) that will prepare a general review of the country's energy policy towards 2030 and 2050 . The committee's work and the related consultations will result in a communication from the government to the Parliament (so-called Melding til Stortinget Meld.St. ). Energy challenges ahead The setting up of the Energy Committee is motivated by a series of challenges as regards the national energy policy, and in particular the balance in the long-term development of the electric and energy system. The development and regulation of the different components of the energy chain will need to be assessed: production, transport capacity with the reinforcement and expansion of the grid, and consumption. This also includes the relation to neighouring countries, the development of EU energy policy having deep impoacts for Norway, and of the international energy markets. Bas...

The European Commission adopted yesterday a proposal for a regulation on market transparency requirements in the wholesale energy markets (so-called regulation on energy market integrity and transparency ). The measures have been announced for a long time (see previous post ). The full text of the proposal is available HERE . A summary of the proposed rules will be posted on this blog in the coming days. References : Press release, European Commission, IP/10/1676 ; MEMO/10/655 , European Commission; Impact Assessment attached to the Proposal for Regulation, SEC(2010) 1510 ; ERGEG and CEER press release commenting the proposal.

The Norwegian Government has just published the law proposal on a green certificates scheme , enabling a common market with Sweden to enter into function on 1 January 2012 . Here is the text of the proposed legislation and some background notes (Norwegian Ministry for Petroleum and Energy).

La Loi No. 2010-1488 du 7 décembre 2010 portant nouvelle organisation du marché de l'électricité en France , dite Loi NOME , a été publiée au JORF de ce 8 décembre 2010. Texte disponible ICI .

The Science, Technology Options Assessment (STOA) Committee of the European Parliament is organising today a debate on the possibility to attain an oil free future . The debate will be structured around lectures given by two Nobel Prize winners in Chemistry, Prof. Paul Crutzen (1995) and Prof. George Olah (1994), as well as Shai Agassi (Better Place). Prof. Crutzen will speak on " Atmospheric chemistry and climate in the anthropocene . " Prof. Olah will address the issue of " Technological carbon cycle based methanol economy for a sustainable future ." S. Agassi will raise the question of " How to run a country without oil ? ." The full session can be watched live through this LINK . A summary of the presentations is available HERE . References : STOA website and Annual Lecture programme .

The 3 of December 2010 has been a fruitful day for EU energy policy. In additional to the Council Energy Meeting, this day has seen the signature in Brussels of the Memorandum of Understanding concerning the North Seas Countries' Offshore Grid Initiative (NSCOGI) . The Initiative was formally launched by 9 EU countries that signed on 7 December 2009 a Political Declaration (Belgium, Denmark, Frane, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom). Norway joined them and signed the same Political Declaration on 2 February 2010. The core objective of the Initiative is to define ' a framework for regional cooperation ' and to ' find common solutions to questions related to current and possible future grid infrastructure developments in the North Seas .' There have been recently many signs reinforcing the Initiative's objective : the Commission's Communication on Energy Infrastructure Priorities for 2020-2030, the EU energy r...

Today, 2 December 2010, enters into force Regulation (EU) No. 994/20 10 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 October 2010 concerning measures to safeguard security of gas supply and repealing Council Directive 2004/67/EC (OJ L295, 12.11.2010, p.1). Pursuant to its Article 1, the Regulation aims to : safeguard the security of gas supply by ensuring the proper and continuous functioning of the internal market in natural gas, by allowing for exceptional measures to be implemented when the market can no longer deliver the required gas supplies and by providing for a clear definition and attribution of responsibilities among natural gas udnertakings, the Member States and the Union regarding both preventive action and the reaction to concrete disruptions of supply; establish transparent mechanisms for the coordination of planning for, and response to, an emergency at Member States, regional and Union levels . References : MEMO/10/641 , European Commission.