Sustainable Energy Law Notebook

The European Commission confirmed on 27 September that it had started a series of unannounced inspections at the office of several companies operating in the supply, transmission and storage of natural gas . The inspections are motivated by concerns about anticompetitive practices in breach of EU antitrust rules or that they are informed of such practices . The Commission is giving more details on the nature of the inspections in a MEMO (MEMO/11/641 available HERE ): "The Commission is investigating potential anticompetitive practices in the supply of natural gas in Central and Eastern European Member States. The investigation focuses on the upstream supply level, where, unilaterally or through agreements, competition may be hampered or delayed. The Commission suspects exclusionary behaviour, such as market partitioning, obstacles to network access, barriers to supply diversification, as well as possible exploitative behaviour, such as excessive pricing. Any such beha...

Since the beginning of his second term, the President of the European Commission, J. M. Barroso, has agreed to present to the European Parliament an assessment of the action of the Union as well as an overview of the agenda for the coming year. This "State of the Union Address" has been enshrined in the Framework Agreement between the Commission and the European Parliament. Watch the event live at 9 a.m. on EbS ( HERE ). The speech is usually followed by a debate in plenary session of the European Parliament (Strasbourg).

The European Data Protection Supervisor (EPDS) adopted on 21 June 2011 an Opinion on the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on energy market integrity and transparency (so-called REMIT Regulation) . The Opinion has been today published in the Official Journal of the EU (OJ C 279 of 23.09.2011, p.20). The proposal for REMIT regulation has been adopted in first reading by the European Parliament on 14 September and is now awaiting for the clearing of the Council (see previous post HERE ). One can regret the late publication of this Opinion, as sensitive information for companies may be subject to reporting requirements. Indeed, the EPDS underlines the fact that he was not originally consulted although he must have been pursuant to Article 28.2 of Regulation (EC) 45/2001. He was consequently acting on his own initiative by adopting this Opinion, due to " the significant potential impact of the Proposal on the right to privacy and th...

Energiutvalget , som ble tidligere etablert 4. mars 2011 (se tidligere post HER ), holder et høringsmøte i dag 22. september. Se tidligere invitasjon til høringsmøtet HER . Utvalget spurte interessegrupper å komme med innspill på særlig to spørsmål: - Hva kan utvalget bidra med i energidebatten? - Hva ser din organisasjon som de viktigiste utfordringene for den norske energiforsyningen fram mot 2050, og hvordan bør vi møte disse utfordringene? Man får håpe på at innleggene blir offentliggjort for en transparent energidebatt i hele norske samfunnet også.

I can confirmed the submission of my PhD-thesis at the University of Oslo, Norway, with the following title: " Tradable Green Certificates Schemes under EU Law - The influence of EU Law on national support schemes for renewable electricity generation ."  

Denne helgen er det Bokfestival i Oslo og her kommer en energi-relatert tips. Det blir diskusjon om hvordan Olje-Norge gir inspirasjon til norsk krimlitteratur . Tre forfattere som har skrevet om oljeeventyrets skyggesider: Hogne Hongset, Sidsel Dalen og Erik Grønner i samtale med Kurt Hanssen . Tid og sted : kl. 14, Spikersuppa, Saras telt, lørdag 17. september. This week is arranged Oslo Book Festival . And her comes a energy-related recommendation. There will be a discussion around Norway as Oil Land and how writers finds inspiration from it . Three authors who wrote on the dark sides of the oil eventure will meet and discuss together with Kurt Hanssen: Hogne Hongset, Sidsel Dalen og Erik Grønner . Time and place : 14.00, Spikersuppa, "Saras telt", Saturday 17 September.

The European Parliament has adopted on 14 September 2011, in first reading, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation on energy market integrity and transparency ( COM(2010) 726 ). The proposal for regulation as adopted by the Commission was already commented on this blog (see previous posts HERE and HERE ). The position of the European Parliament will be commented in a forthcoming post.

Olje- og energidepartementet har publisert i dag utkast til forskrift om elsertifikater . Forskriften er på høring frem til 28. oktober 2011 . Forskriften (tilgjengelig HER ) gir detaljerte bestemmelser om, blant annet : - definisjoner (som refererer seg til elsertifikatloven fra 24. juni 2011; - godkjenning av produksjonsanlegg (søknad (ramme i vedlegg til forskriften), godkjenning, krav til produksjonsanlegg, fornybare energikilder); - måling og rapportering; - elsertifikatplikt, deklarasjon, informasjon til sluttbrukere; - elsertifikatregister, utstedelse, omsetning of annullering; - kontroll, gebyr, osv. Referanser: OED, pressemelding nr.82/11, 14.09.2011.

The decision of the Commission of 8 March 2011 concerning the state aid for energy-intensive businesses under the Green Electricity Act in Austria has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union today 10 September 2011. The text of the decision in its published version is available HERE .

The Court of Justice of the EU has delivered an important judgment on 8 September 2011 in the Case C-279/08 P (appeal) . The case concerns The Netherlands' emission trading scheme for nitrogen oxides . At stake was the qualification of the measure as state aid under Article 107. TFEU , and in particular the fulfilment of the selectivity criteria . The documents, including opinion and judgment, related to the case are available HERE .

The Canadian Telegraph-Journal is publishing all this week a series of articles in the form of Q&A on shale gas . The exercise is both instructive as regards shale gas and the latest developments in Canada and in New Brunswick in particular. The first article (to read HERE ) addresses the following issues: 1. What is shale gas? 2. Where are the biggest shale gas deposits in New Brunswick? 3. What is horizontal drilling? 4. What is fracking? 5. Does fracking cause earthquakes? The second article (to be read HERE ) addresses the following issues: 6. What chemicals are added to water used in fracking? 7. What are the sources of water used in fracking and where does the water go after the fracking? 8. Have water sources, such as drinking water wells, ever been contaminated by fracking?

Today is published in the OJEU the decision of the EFTA Surveillance Authority (No. 342/09/COL) of 23 July 2009 concerning an exemption from the Norwegian CO2 tax on gas and LPG on the use of gas for purposes other than the heating of buildings . The text of the decision is available HERE (OJ EU l 226 OF 01.09.2011, p.12) and will be commented shortly on this blog.