Sustainable Energy Law Notebook

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...

Economic resilience to better serve energy markets and tackle climate change   In the aftermaths of a financial and budgetary crisis, faced with a slow economic recovery and forced to respond quickly to geopolitical and natural resources challenges of global character, the representatives from governments and central banks of the Group of the Twenty major economies (so-called G20 ) decided to put "resilience" at the heart of their action during their last meeting in Australia, 15-16 November 2014 .  " Strengthening the resilience of the global economy and stability of the financial system are crucial to sustaining growth and development ." (para. 12)  " Strong and resilient energy markets are critical to economic growth. " (para. 17) We should better get used to the concept of resilience , because it is now used extensively, lately by the newly appointed European Commission ( " resilient energy union with a forward-looking climate ch...

Late in the night came the news of an agreement between the EU heads of state and government on a new climate and energy framework for 2030 . A need for mid-term commitments An agreement on post-2020 EU climate and energy strategy was deemed necessary in order to ensure predictability for energy technology investors, developers and industrial operators as regards mid-term commitments. Indeed, the Renewable Energy Directive 2009/28/EC may foresee a post-2020 roadmap in 2018, stakeholders have been repeatedly asking for clarification as to the situation after 2020 as soon as possible. 

Report 3/2014 The Norwegian Climate Foundation ( Norsk Klimastiftelse ) published a new report on the current energy transition processes experienced by the European countries and EU climate policy. The report is available here.   As part of the report, I published an article on the currently debated Law proposal on energy transition for green growth in France , reviewing the terms of the debate and the core provisions of the proposal. An extended version of the article is available here (in Norwegian).   References : Klimapolitikk i krysspress , Rapport nr. 3/2014, Norsk Klimastiftelse. Die Energiewende made in France: la transition énergétique , av Catherine Banet, 14 October 2014, Energi og Klima nettmagasin.

  Sirkulær økonomi og norsk energisystemet er tema til mitt innlegg i Energi og Klima Nettmagasinet under tittelen:   "Sirkulær økonomi: Snart på dagsorden også i Norge?"   " Norge har andre behov for energiomlegging enn mange andre land, men må likevel følge med i timen når det handler om utviklingen av et mer ressurseffektivt samfunn – en sirkulær økonomi.  De fleste land som har startet en prosess for energiomlegging ... " les resten av saken her ENGLISH VERSION   Circular economy and the Norwegian energy system are the topics of a chronicle I wrote for the Norwegian webmagazine Energy & Climate. I question when and how the concept of circular economy can be introduced in Norway. Read the full teks (in Norwegian) here .

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) meet in committees this week (22-28 September 2014). Two issues of interest for energy are on the agenda.

Energy efficiency is simple but demanding, because it requires changing our own behaviour . When we are constantly incited to consume more by using new electronic tools, the simplier remains often the better. In addition, consumer have obtain rights that should be exercised. The Norwegian news website KraftNytt published recently a list of 9 simple actions to cut your electricity bill . They are translated below into English. Switch your electricity supplier Read your meter Reduce room temperature Ventilate correctly Use wood-firing when it is cheaper Decrease temperature in the rooms which are not used Insulate better, in particular windows areas Take a shower and avoid bath Limit the use of washing machines and drying drums Read the full article on KraftNytt website here .  

Les mitt innlegg om innføring av "smarte strømmålere" og hvordan vil forbrukerne reagere i Energi & Klima nettmagasinet: " Norske forbrukere får bedre tid til å venne seg til smarte måele, men hvor aktive og interesserte vil vi være? Siste mandag ble det kunngjort at Norge utsette utrullingen av Avanserte Måle- og Styresystemer (AMS) ... " Les resten av innlegget her:  http://energiogklima.no/nyhetsblogg/banet/smart-strom-trenger-smarte-forbrukere/

Directive 2012/27/EU  of 25 October 2012 on energy efficiency has been published in today's official journal of the EU (OJ L 315, 14.11.2012, p.1). It amends Directive 2009/125/EC establishing a framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for energy-related products and Directive   2010/30/EU on indication by labelling and standard of the consumption of energy and other resources by energy related-products), and repeals Directive 2004/8/EC on the promotion of cogeneration and Directive 2006/32/EC on energy end-use efficiency and energy services. The text of the new directive is available HERE , and will be commented shortly on this blog.

I dag 15. juni 2012 skal Kommunal- og Regionaldepartementet (KRD) presentere Stortingmelding om bygningspolitikken . Følg presentasjonen her . Mens EU har akkurat blitt enig om forslag til direktiv om energieffektivisering kan man lure på hvordan samme temaet blir omtalt i Bygningsmeldingen. Svaret kommer kl. 12. EN Norway will present today a white paper concerning the building sector .

The European Commission has published today, 24 April 2012, a "non-paper" drafted by its services concerning the proposal for an Energy Efficiency Directive . The non-paper reflects the state of play of the discussions on the proposal for directive ahead of the Informal Energy Meeting of EU Ministers of 19-20 April 2012 (although the document was publicly released after the meeting). The non-paper presents new estimates in terms of reduced primary energy consumption based on the Council's version of the proposed directive dated 4 April 2012 .  Without saying it, the Commission's staff tries to demonstrate that the Council's version of the text will only reach a third of the original objectives : " The Council's version of the Directive is thus estimated to reduce primary energy consumption by about 58.1 Mtoe while the Commission's proposal would deliver a savings of 151.5 Mtoe, which is needed to close the gap (along with measures in t...

The third edition of the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM3) will take place in Kondon (UK) on 25-26 April 2012. The conference focuses on transition to clean energy technologies , and related initiatives (best practices, cooperation,etc.). CEM was initiated by U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu at the 2009 UNFCCC COP/CMP in Copenhagen , with the idea of gathering ministers responsible for clean energy technologies from the major world economies, as well as ministers from a selected number of smaller countries with leading expertise in the field. The objective pursued by CEM meetings is to " serve as an important platform to advance international collaboration to accelerate the adoption of clean energy technologies worldwide ."  CEM1 was organised in the US. In 2012, CEM3 gathers 23 leaders from around the globe. The public agenda is available here .  CEM's work focuses mainly on 3 areas and includes related 11 clean energy initiatives : improve energy...

Tomorrow starts the World Future Energy Summit (WFES 2012) , in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Check events and topics on the summit website:  http://www.worldfutureenergysummit.com   See also a good article summarising what is on the agenda of WFES 2012  here  (conference blog). More details on the summit to be posted on this blog.

As mentionned in an earlier post (to read HERE ), 2012 will be the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All , and will be sponsored by the United Nations Foundation, the inter-agency UN-Energy, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, and other public and private organisations. Its aim is twofold: increase awareness and find solutions on access to energy (with the objective of universal access by 2030 ) that is, in addition, affordable, clean and safe. It has as starting point the adoption in December 2010 of a UN General Assembly resolution endorsing the topic of this international year ( GA/11040, 66th GA, 69th meeting, 20 December 2010; and Resolution 65/151 adopted by the GA on 16 February 2011 ), and its confirmation by its Secretary General in February 2011 . The initiative takes as starting point that " more than 1.4 billion people worldwide have no access to electricity, and 1 billion more only have intermittent access. Some 2.5 billion people – almost half of humanity...

The ENVI Committee of the European Parliament will discuss Monday 19 December 2011 the draft report on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on energy efficiency and repealing Directives 2004/8/EC and 2006/32/EC  presented by MEP Claude Turmes  on 4 October 2011. The Sustainable Energy Law Notebook will follow-up this important legislative initiative that will constitute a key priority of the Danish Presidency, first semester 2012 . 

The European Commission has published today its proposal for a review of Directive 2003/96/EC restructuring the Community framework for the taxation of energy products and electricity ( Energy Taxation Directive ). Here are: the text of the proposal , the press release and the MEMO For background information , see previous POST on that blog. An analysis of the new proposal will be posted soon .

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...

The Surveillance Authority of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) (ESA) has adopted today a positive decision on the grant of a direct aid to Finnfjord AS in favour of the installation of energy recovery measures . The financing of the measure originates from the Norwegian Energy Fund . The latter has been previously validated by ESA in 2006 and prolonged once in 2010. The present aid amounts to NOK 175 million (EUR 21.3 million) and was notified to ESA in October 2010. It was subject to a detailed assessment under the State Aid Guidelines for Environmental Protection . While the text of the decision is not yet available, the press release from ESA sets the general reasoning of the decision as follows: " Finnfjord is one of Europe's leading producers of ferrosilicon. Finnfjord also produces microsilica which is a by-product of the ferrosilicon production process. The production process generates a lot of heat. Currently, this heat is not used for energy production or...

The Order of 15 December 2010 defining the standardised operations for energy savings has been published in today's Official Journal ( JORF No.23, 28.01.2011, p.1700 ). The new order completes and updates the previous series of orders, and lately the order of 28 June 2010. See also previous post relative to decrees and orders adopted in December 2010. The new Order defines three types of "fiches" (charts) : new , revised , and former , in accordance with the different types and dates of implementation of the energy savings operations.

France has updated its legal framework regarding white certificates for energy savings . The new rules will enter into force on 1 January 2011 . Two decrees and three administrative orders have been published in the French official journal of 30 December 2010 (JORF No. 302, 30.12.2010): Décret No. 2010-1663 du 29 décembre 2010 relatif aux obligations d'économies d'énergie dans le cadre du dispositif des certificates d'économies d'énergie; Décret No. 2010-1664 du 29 décembre 2010 relatif aux certificats d'économie d'énergie; Arrêté du 23 décembre 2010 fixant le montant des frais de tenue de compte du registre national des certificates d'économie d'énergie; Arrêté du 29 décembre 2010 fixant la liste des éléments d'une demande de certificats d'économies d'énergie et la composition d'une demande d'agrément d'un plan d'actions d'économies d'énergie; Arrêté du 29 décembre 2010 relatif aux modalités d'application d...