Sustainable Energy Law Notebook

Thank you for your interest and keep posting and sending me comments.

The French National Assembly is debatting today, 29 March, the environmental effects of oil shale use and shal gas production during its public session (video available online here ).

I would like to share with you this Infographic (full size picture here ) forwarded by Ecopolitology , which I thank for the information. It points out the pros and cons of ethanol with regards to cornfields in the light of recent debates in the United States . This allows me to mention that tomorrow, 29 March 2011, is the deadline for submission of responses to the public consultation conducted by the European Commission on the Preparation of a report on additional sustainability measures at EU level for solid and gaseous biomass used in electricity, heating and cooling . Consultation page here . The consultation does not relate to biofuels and bioliquids, but to other energy uses of biomass. It focuses on the necessity to adopt additional sustainability criteria , following the entry into force of Directive 2009/28/EC and the adoption in February 2010 of a Commission's report on sustainability requirements for the use of solid and gaseous biomass sources in electricity, heati...

For the ones you know me, they can attest that I am a fervent believer in energy savings measures. The easiest ones are to switch off the light when you do not need it, switch off electronic appliances when you stop using them, or use energy savings fluorescent light bulbs. But the Earth Hour event is posing me some problems . First, I believe that it is every day that we should be sober in our consumption of energy, and primarily electricity . The mediatic effect of the event is certainly convincing, and making a party of an energy savings campaign looks very appealing. But I believed we were over the phase of sensibilisation and have entered the phase of action, again, in every day life, not just on Saturday evening around candles. Limiting an energy saving action to one hour on Saturday night is nearing hypocrisy. Second, I remember comments from professionals of the electric industry that expressed concerns as to the environmental effects of such inpredictable variations in load c...

ENOVA har publisert i dag sin resultatrapport for 2010. Rapporten er tilgjengelig HER (i pdf versjon) eller fra websiden . Den blir kort kommentert på denne bloggen.

The European Commission has announced today that it will refer Italy to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in the Alcoa case for not having recovered the unlawful state aid following the Commission's decision of 19 November 2009 . The facts The Alcoa case concerns the grant of subsidy to Alcoa in the form of preferential electricity tariff , the direct beneficiaries being two aluminium smelters in Sardinia and Veneto. See details of the facts in previous post from Sept. 2010 here and a similar case in Greece (see post from Jan. 2010 here ). The Commission considered that the preferential tariff represented an unfair advantage in favour of the undertaking . The aid was received from January 2006 to January 2007, and the amount to be recovered near EUR295 million . Recovery of Unlawful State Aid and Undergoing Judicial procedure Alcoa appealed the Commission's decision before the ECJ, asking for interim measures ( Case T-177/10 , see previous post on the appeal here ). In Ju...

The Hungarian presidency of the European Union (EU) called upon an extraordinary Energy Council meeting on 21 March 2011, in order to discuss " recent international developments and their impact on world energy markets and the EU energy sector ." The meeting was primarily motivated by the consequences of the political movements in North Africa as an important energy supplier to Europe , as well as the consequences of the nuclear accident at Fukushima, Japan . Commissioner Oettinger addressed the Energy Council, and the Council will then " exchange views " as to the response to be given at EU and Member States' level. In the list of "messages" that the Presidency highlighted at the end of the discussions are : as regards political movements in North Africa: " member states have so far been able to cope with the consequences for the gas and oil markets "; " however, the Council stressed the need to keep these markets and their impact ...

Hier, 16 mars 2011 , s'est tenue à l'Assemblée Nationale une réunion conjointe sur la crise nucléaire au Japon . La réunion avait lieu entre l'Office parlemenatire d'évaluation des choix scientifiques et technologiques, la Commission du développement durable et de l'aménagement du territoire et de la Commission de l'économie, du développement durable et de l'aménagement du territoire du Sénat. La vidéo intégrale de la réunion est disponible ICI (onglet "Commissions"; 16 mars - "Crise nucléaire Japon"). Intervenants : Mme N. Kosciusko-Morizet, ministre de l'Ecologie, du développement durable, des transports et du logement; M. A.-C Lacoste, président de l'autorité de sûreté nucléaire; M. J. Repussard, directeur général de l'institut de radioprotection et de sûreté nucléaire; M. B. Bigot, administrateur général du Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives; Mme A. Lauvergeon, présidente du directoire d...

The EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) has today given its aproval concerning a state aid granted to Troms Kraft Produksjon AS and concerning the construction of an onshore windpark (18 turbines, 138 GWh) in Fakken at Vannøya (project info here and here ) , granted by the Norwegian authorities through the Norwegian Energy Fund Scheme (managed by ENOVA ). The measure was notified to ESA in June 2010 under the State Aid Guidelines for environmental protection . The high amount of the aid, NOK 346.4 million (EUR 42 million) , required a detailed assessment . According to the press release *, the high investment costs required for putting on line the windpark project justified the approval of the aid under the Guidelines. The benefits represented by the increased production of renewable energy consecutive to the project counter-balances the negative effects on competition, which themselves are considered to be "limited." As sum up by ESA in general terms: " The aid...

Konkurransetilsynet kom slutten av februar med en anbefaling om Statkraft som må sees i sammenheng med en rekke tiltak knyttet til konkurransen i det norske kraftmarkedet . Anbefalingen ble gitt i forbindelse med høringsbrev av 17. desember 2010 fra Olje- og energidepartementet (OED) om en rapport utarbeidet av Eksperutvalget om driften av kraftsystemet (" Flere og riktigere priser - Et mer effektivt kraftsystem "). Konkurransetilsynet pekker på offentlig eierskap som en klar utfordring for konkurransen på engroskraftmarkedet . Statkraft spiller en dominerende rolle på engrosmarkedet . Konkurransetilsynet pekker på her at de offentlige aktørene i markedet 'er vevd sammen i et nett av utbredt direkte og indirekte eierskap mellom selskapene .' Tilsynet understrekker her at ' I tillegg til minoritetseierskap og krysseierskap mellom aktørene, noe som fører til at konsentrasjonen øker ytterligere, er mange av vannkraftverkene eid i felleskap mellom to eller flere s...

On 4 March 2011 , the Norwegian government adopted a report to the national parliament (Stortinget) on the full-scale deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology . The report ( Stortingsmelding nr.9 (2010-2011) , available in Norwegian HERE ), is both an assessment and a roadmap . It presents the efforts at national and international level up to now. At national level, it reviews in details the status of the Mongstad technology centre and the way towards full scale deployment (Chapter 3). Chapter 4 of the report reviews aspects related to transport and storage of CO2 . It insists on the Norwegian state's responsibility for transport and storage from Mongstad. The involvement of Gassco , Gassnova and Statoil are also reviewed in that context. Chapter 5 looks at the state-of-play of the technology, knowledge and competences . The end of the report is dedicated to international experiences , both in terms of international cooperation and national experiences, and to ...

Publiés au Journal Officiel de ce jour ( JORF No.0054 du 5 mars 2011 ): Arrêté du 4 mars 2011 fixant les conditions d'achat de l'électricté produite par les installations utilisant l'énergie radiative du soleil telles que visées au 3' de l'article 2 du décret no. 2000-1196 du 6 décembre 2000 ; Arrêté du 4 mars 2011 portant abrogation de l'arrêté du 31 août 2010 ; Délibération de la Commission de Régulation de l'Energie du 3 mars 2011 portant avis sur le projet d'arrêté .

On 13 December 2010 , the Norwegian Ministry for Petroleum and Energy announced the forthcoming establishment of an Energy Committee ( Energiutvalget ) that would draft proposals as regards Norway's energy policy towards 2030 and 2050 (see previous post with detailed mandate). On 4 March 2011 , the King has officially nominated the Committee and its members. A shorter text of the mandate is available here (builds on the previous mandate description and will not be repeated. See previous post ). The list of the 15 members of the committee is available here (including short bio). The Energy Committee must submit its assessment to the ministry by 1 March 2012 . Reference : press release , Ministry for Petroleum and Energy, 04.03.2011.

EU Member States must transpose the third energy package ( link ) by 3 March 2011 , for most of the provisions contained in: Directive 2009/72/EC on the internal market in electricity , and Directive 2009/73/EC on the internal market in natural gas. The provisions of Regulation (EC) No. 714/2009 on conditions for access to the network for cross-border exchanges in electricity, and of Regulation (EC) No. 715/2009 on conditions for access to the natural gas transmission networks also apply from 3 March 2011. Finally, Articles 5 to 11 of Regulation (EC) No. 713/2009 establishing the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators ( ACER ) apply from 3 March 2011. ACER will be officially inaugurated in Ljubljana, Slovenia , today (see, press release European Commission ). Meanwhile, the European Commissioner for Energy, Günther Oettinger, speaking at the occasion of the Energy Ministers Council on 28 February (see, video press conference ), made clear that 3 March 2011 " is not...

The Surveillance Authority of the European Free Trade Agreement (ESA) has adopted today a positive decision as regards the Norwegian guarantee scheme for purchase of electricity on long term contracts . ESA is of the opinion that the scheme "does not entail any state aid" and is conform to the Guidelines on state guarantees . Here is an abstract of the press release from ESA ( HERE ), the publication of the final decision waiting confidentiality clearing: The scheme enables certain power intensive industries to benefit from a state guarantee for their payment obligations when entering into long term power contracts. The guarantee can cover up to 80% of the payment obligations of contracts lasting from 7 to 25 years. The scheme will be managed by GIEK (Garanti-instituttet for eksportkreditt). The calculation of the guarantee premiums will be made on a case-by-case basis. GIEK will assess the different risk factors, such as the profitability and solidity of the buyers and fu...