Sustainable Energy Law Notebook

Waiting for the announcement on 11 December 2019 of the concrete measures that the European Green Deal will cover, the European Commission has published on its website a list of policy areas which will be concerned. With the announced objective of "becoming the world's first climate-neutral continent" , the following areas of action will apparently be prioritised: adoption of a European climate law: it will set in law climate reduction targets in order for the EU to become climate-neutral by 2050; extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme to air transport and shipping; a "climate pact" which could relate to the development of carbon removal solutions (natural or technology-based) and the further development of "clean" energy sources; a mechanism of Carbon Border Tax; promoting circular economy approach and biodiversity; a just and socially fair transition; a necessary revision of related energy legislation to Ensure the...

Did you miss our seminar in Oslo on 14 November 2019 on the legal aspects of carbon capture and Storage (CCS) deployment? You can now watch it on line on Youtube  HERE . Topic : « Climate emergency & legal response: the role of law in CCS deployment. Regulatory incentives to enable carbon capture and storage (CCS) in Norway and Europe.»

There has been an important update on the issue of transboundary transport of CO 2 for the purpose of permanent storage , as covered by the London Protocol's export amendment (2009 amendment to Art 6). This is of primarly importance for the realisation of carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects which include the international transport of CO 2 .

The last pieces of legislation of the Clean Energy for All Europeans Package have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union of 14 June 2019. Those acts cover electricity market design, risk-preparedness and the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER): Directive (EU) 2019/944 of 5 June 2019 on common rules for the internal market for electricity and amending Directive 2012/27/EU Regulation (EU) 2019/941 of 5 June 2019 on risk-preparedness in the electricity sector and repealing Directive 2005/89/EC Regulation (EU) 2019/942 of 5 June 2019 establishing a European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators Regulation (EU) 2019/943 of 5 June 2019 on the internal market for electricity .

Join us on 4 April 2019 in Oslo for a seminar on Electricity Market Design: "Electricity Networks and their operators in a time of change" . About the seminar: Changing patterns in electricity generation and consumption raise tremendous challenges for transport and distribution infrastructures and their operators. The electricity networks remain the backbone of the electricity system, but are going through important adaptations. Not least, grid operators will need to increase cooperation, while they also may become competitors in supplying grid services and making use of flexibility. The evolution of electricity networks and their o perators is among the central issues in current electricity market reforms.

On 15 January 2015, the Norwegian government has awarded the first exploitation permit for CO2 injection and storage on the Norwegian Continental Shelf to Equinor. The award follows the announcement made in July 2018 and concerns an area located near the Troill oil and gas Field in the North Sea. Equinor is working together with Shell and Total as part of the Northern Lights Project. They were the only applicants. News release from the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy: https://www.regjeringen.no/no/aktuelt/exploitation-permit-for-co2-storage-on-the-norwegian-continental-shelf/id2625189/  News release from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate: http://www.npd.no/en/news/News/2019/Award-of-exploitation-permit-for-CO2-storage/ 

The European Commission has announced on 7 January 2019 that it intends to prolong the current EU state aid rules for two years, until end of 2022 . Those rules, which were part of the reform on State Aid Modernisation (SAM) , were supposed to expire end of 2020. Other state aid rules have no fixed expiry date. The rules part of the SAM-reform are rules which are typically updated on a regular basis subject to a revision process which, in the present case, is starting this Spring. The whole revision process will advance in several steps . First , the following State aid rules will be prolonged until 2022: General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) De minimis Regulation Guidelines on State aid for environmental protection and energy (EEAG) Guidelines on regional State aid Guidelines on State aid to promote risk Finance Investments Guidelines on State aid for rescuing and restructuring Communication on important Projects of common European interest (IPCEI)...