Sustainable Energy Law Notebook

On 12 May 2020, the European Commission has announced having approved the financial compensation envisaged by the government of the Netherlands in favour of the early closure of the Hemweg coal fired power plant . The compensation of EUR52.5 million has been deemed to be in line with the EU state aid rules , as the closure will contribute to reducing CO 2 emissions and there will not be undue distortion of competition in the EU single market, according to the Commission.  The full non-confidential version of the Commission decision is not yet available, by the related press release (IP/20/863) gives some interesting elements of the reasoning of the Commission. 

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)...

The European Commission has published a press release on 13 March 2017 inviting comments on the commitments submitted by Gazprom in the case opened in April 2015 and which relates to the alleged  anti-competitive behaviours on the Central and Eastern European gas markets .  

The European Commission announced on 8 November that it has approved the national-wide capacity mechanism in France under the EU state aid rules . In its press release, the European Commission makes clear that, in order to adopt such a positive decision, France had to make some amendments to its scheme. Security of energy supply was also one of the main grounds for allowing the measure. The full text of the decision is not yet available, but the press release is available here

The 28th European Energy Law Seminar (EELS)  will be held in The Hague, The Netherlands, on 23-24 January 2017 . The Seminar is a unique opportunity to review the latest EU energy law developments including recent legislative proposals adopted by the European Commission and at the same time discuss in detail legal developments, case law and case practice in the field with colleagues from all over Europe. So, hold the date and see you in The Hague. On the programme: Energy Union and legislative initiatives, energy market design package, impact of Brexit, recent competition cases and EU case law, revision of the renewable energy directive, cross-border infrastructures permitting and financing, evolving roles for TSOs and DSOs, capacity reserve mechanisms, prosumers, and gas supply package. The full programme and registration details will be announced shortly on the NeVER website: http://www.never.nl The seminar is co-organised...

Velkommen til seminar om energimarkedet i EØS-området . Hva betyr de pågående endringene i EU-regelverket for Norge? Gjennom EØS-avtalen er Norge godt integrert i det europeiske energimarkedet. Som et resultat av Energiunionen og EUs klima- og energimål, oppdateres nå regelverket for energimarkedet. Det betyr både nye muligheter og nye utfordringer for Norge. Dette årlige seminaret tar for seg de rettspolitiske sidene av utviklingen gjennom foredrag fra akademia, forvaltning og næringsliv. På programmet: Ny politikk og regulering av energimarkedet i EØS-området, Art. 194 TFEU, capacity markets, state aids in the energy sector. Tid og sted :  26. april 2016, 09:30 -  , Det norske videnskapsakademi, Drammensveien 78, 0271 OSLO

C'est avec grand plaisir que j'interviendrai au colloque de rentrée organisé par la Faculté de droit de Strasbourg les 14-15 janvier 2016 . Le colloque aura pour thème: "Les énergies renouvelables, nouvel Eldorado de l'intervention de l'Etat" L'énergie verte au confluent des perspectives nationales et européennes Pour plus d'informations, voire l'affiche ci-dessous et le lien ICI :

The European Commission has announced on 13 November 2015 the opening of two in-depth investigations to assess the conformity of two measures adopted by the French government under EU state aid rules , namely: the forthcoming national capacity mechanism , and a specific tender procedure for the construction of a gas-fired power plant in Brittany.

The European Commission has sent today, 22 April 2015, a Statement of Objections to Gazprom for alleged abuse of dominant position on the Central and Eastern European gas supply market, contrary to EU antitrust rules. Investigations started in September 2012 and resulted in today's decision. Gazprom has now 12 weeks to answer the Statement of Objections.   The Commission is suspecting that: " Gazprom is breaking EU antitrust rules by pursuing an overall strategy to partition Central and Eastern European gas markets, for example by reducing its customers’ ability to resell the gas cross-border. This may have enabled Gazprom to charge unfair prices in certain Member States. Gazprom may also have abused its dominant market position by making the supply of gas dependent on obtaining unrelated commitments from wholesalers concerning gas transport infrastructure ." Further comments will be published on this blog in the coming days.   By then, see the press rele...

In a recent decision adopted by the Council on 2 March 2015 , the United Kingdom has been authorised to apply reduced levels of taxation on gas oil and unleaded petrol which are supplied as motor fuel to road vehicles .   The measure, proposed by the UK, examined by the European Commission and backed by the Council, aims to restore the balance for local fuels consumers faced with higher prices than the rest of the UK consumers . As explained in the decision, " the price difference is due to additional per unit costs induced by the geographic location of those areas, their low population numbers and the delivery of relatively low volumes of fuel ."   This decision is taken in accordance with the provisions of Article 19 of Directive 2003/96/EC on the taxation of energy products and electricity . Under that provision, certain criteria for the granting of exemption are set, such as conformity with the functioning of the internal market, the need to ensure fair comp...

  Ofgem, the UK Office of Gas and Electricity Markets , announced on 15 December 2014 that it has  launched an investigation against UK Capacity Reserver Limited (UKCR) which is suspected of having submitted " false or misleading information to National Grid (the Delivery Body) regarding whether it had planning consent for some Capacity Market Units (CMUs) ."  

    On 13 November 2014, media reported that EU Member States and the European Commission decided not to follow-up the proposal consisting in establishing a mandatory gas-purchasing body at EU level . This was confirmed by K.D. Borchardt, European Commission's director in charge of the internal energy market. The idea was proposed as part of the concept for Energy Union ahead of an EU summit on EU energy dependence in June. It was promoted by Donald Tusk, former Polish PM and forthcoming president of the European Council, but also relayed by the European Commission in its May 2014 Communication on a European Energy Security Strategy .   In a comment, I referred to the idea as an "EU contradiction" . After receiving questions on that qualification, I hereafter give the reasons why.  

On 5 November 2014, I was commenting the New Guidelines on State Aid for Environmental protection and energy (2014-2020) which have been adopted by the European Commission in April 2014, and apply from 1 July 2014 until the end of 2020.   The organisers of the event were the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (Næringslivets Hovedorganisasjon, NHO) and Energy Norway (Energi Norge)   Full programme available here . The presentations from the seminar are available here .   Take contact for further information.

The difference in tax regime for electricity generation between Norway and Sweden has been heavily discussed the last few years, and in particular after the start of the joint green certificates market in January 2012. A new legal argument is now supporting the idea of a rapid review of the Swedish regime, based on a survey ordered by industry associations. The Swedish tax exemption regime for self-produced wind power A legal note ordered by the Swedish District Heating Association and Energy Norway (Energi Norge) concludes that the current tax exemption regime applicable in Sweden to self-generated wind power is in breach with EU state aid rules.

The newly adopted Guidelines on state aid for environmental protection and energy (2014-2020) have now been published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) of 28 June 2014, C/200, p.1.   Access the full document here .

The European Commission has adopted today, 9 April 2014, the new Environmental and Energy State Aid Guidelines (EEAG) . The new EEAG will replace the former 2008 Guidelines, and will cover the period 2014-2020.

Today, 9 April 2014, the European Commission will adopt its new State Aid Guidelines on Energy and Environmental Aid .   You can follow the press conference given by Commissioner in charge of Competition, Joaquín Almunia, on EBS Live ( link ) et 12.30   Last on the topic, the Committtee of the Regions adopted a Draft Opinion on the forthcoming guidelines (check press release, 04.04.2014, by the CoR here ).

Three new public procurement directives are published in today's Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU L 094 of 28.03.2014). These new directives form the new legal basis for EU public procurement and concession contracts legislation (link included): Directive 2014/23/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on the award of concession contracts Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on public procurement and repealing Directive 2004/18/EC Directive 2014/25(EU of the European Parliament and of the COuncil of 26 February 2014 on procurement by entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors and repealing Directive 2004/17/EC The new rules have been formally approved on 15 January 2014  after that an agreement was reached in June 2013. More on the review process which conducted to the adoption of the new rules on the European Commission website .

I answered some questions on the possible effects of the draft EU state aid guidelines for energy and environment (document leaked a couple of days before) on the green certificates scheme in Norway and Sweden. The article (in Norwegian) was published on 20 March 2014 by Montel. Article: "EU-forslag vil neppe berøre elsertmarkedet" , Montel, 20.03.2014, available for free here .

    Read my comment on the recent state aid practice of the European Commission in the energy sector in Montel article "State-aid rules to give Brussels new muscles" . Available on http://www.montel.no/  (only for Montel subscribers for the moment).