Sustainable Energy Law Notebook

Last week we presented a joint paper on energy policy in France . The paper is part of the Research project REMIX and has been presented, in a preliminary version, at the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) in Oslo, on 7 September 2017. The draft version of the paper called "An EU-induced turn to a marked-based France RES governance" is available here . The paper is a multidisciplinary collaboration between law and political science. The final version of the paper will be available by the end of 2017. Authors : Catherine Banet, University of Oslo, Faculty of Law, and Jørgen Wettestad, Fridtjof Nansen Institute. More about the REMIX Project here .

30. november 2016 arrangerte NORWEA sin anerkjent  Høstkonferanse i Oslo, i samarbeid med Arntzen de Besche. Nedenfor følger en oppsummering av arrangementet: http://www.norwea.no/nyhetsarkiv/visning-nyheter/hoestkonferanse-2016.aspx?Action=1&M=NewsV2&PID=1145 Jeg hadde selv gleden av å presentere mine synspunkter om fremtiden for "Samarbeidsmekanismer og statsstøtte etter 2020 - Do's and don'ts." ---- On 30 November 2016, the Norwegian  Wind Power Association organised its renown Fall Conference. Hereafter follows a link to a summary of the event (in Norwegian): http://www.norwea.no/nyhetsarkiv/visning-nyheter/hoestkonferanse-2016.aspx?Action=1&M=NewsV2&PID=1145 Personnally, I had the pleasure to present views on the "Future of Cooperation mechanisms and state aid regime after 2020 - Do's and don'ts" . Picture: (c) Paal Frisvold

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 news came on Monday (25 January 2016) that an arbitral tribunal reached one of the first ruling in a case concerning the cuts to the renewable energy support schemes in Spain, more precisely the changes made in 2010 by the government to the Spanish feed-in tariff in favour of PV solar installations (RDL 14/2010).

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 :

On 19 November 2015 I had the pleasure to present my views on the manner to regulate the circular economy and EU initiatives taken in the domain so far at the annual meeting of the Norwegian Steel Association .

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.

" La boucle est bouclée " one can say, at least for the moment. The Court of Justice of the European Union has delivered on 11 September 2014 its judgment in the joined Cases C-204/12 to C-208/12 involving Essent Belgium NV . The case is a reference for preliminary ruling from a Belgium first instance Court to the Court of Justice. It involves questions on the free movement of goods (electricity) , the existence of barriers to that free movement due to territorial restrictions (only regional generation qualifies to support), and interaction between green certificates and guarantees of origin under that support scheme.

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.

I published a detailed comment on the Åland Vindkraft decision of the EU Court of Justice (C-573/12) for ECOHZ . Read the full article on ECOHZ website here . " The EU Court of Justice rules in favour of Sweden in the Åland Vindkraft case: no mandatory opening of national support schemes for the time being. Read Catherine Banet's comment on the EU Court of Justice decision. In a landmark decision delivered on 1 July, the Court of Justice of the European Union deems the Swedish green certificates scheme conform to EU law. It confirms that, based on the Renewable Energy Directive 2009/28/EC and the Treaties, national governments can continue restricting access to their support schemes to renewable electricity generated on their territory. ... " 

  The Norwegian business newspaper Dagens Næringsliv ( www.dn.no ) asked for my first reaction after the release of the European Court of Justice decision in the Åland Vindkraft case on 1 July 2014 (see previous post).   Read the interview here .   Reference: " Kan puste lettet ut ", Dagens Næringsliv, 2 July 2014.

The Court of Justice of the European Union has delivered on 1 July 2014 its decision in the Åland Vindkraft Case (C-573/12) . The Court rules in favour of Sweden , and deems the Swedish national support scheme, a green certificates scheme, conform to EU law, although it constitutes a measure having equivalent effect to a quantitative restriction. Because the measure aims to promote renewable energy sources and act on greenhouse gases emissions that the EU and its Member States are internationally committed to reduce, the Court confirms that Member States can maintain territorial restrictions to access their national support schemes as long as the measure is proportional.   For a background of the case, see previous post here ( Eligibility of Foreign Produced Renewable Electricity to National Support Scheme: Advocate General Deems a Provision of the Renewables Directive Invalid (Preliminary Ruling) )   The full text of judgement is available on Curia he...

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 ).

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 .

The Norwegian magazine Teknisk Ukeblad asked for my opinion on the conclusions delivered by Advocate General Bot in Case Ålands Vindkraft AC vs. Energimyndighten ( Case C-573/12 ), which relates to access to national support schemes in favour of renewable energy generation. For a review of the conclusions, see previous post on that blog. The article (in Norwegian) is available online HERE . (" Alle nasjonale støtteordninger for fornybar energi kan være ulovlige, ifølge EU-domstolen ", 11.03.2014)

Advocate General Yves Bot delivered on 28 January 2014 his conclusions in case Ålands Vindkraft AC vs. Energimyndighten  ( Case C-573/12 ). The conclusions are clearly in favour of the removal of barriers to the eligibility of foreign produced electricity to national support scheme for renewables , as this is currently  backed in Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (RES Directive).  

The 2012 report for the joint green certificates market between Norway and Sweden is now available in English. This is the first report published jointly by the two national energy regulators. The joint market started its operation on 1 January 2012, while Sweden has been operating its national market since 2003. Check the document HERE . See previous posts on the green certificates market on this blog.

Avisen Nationen henviste til mitt arbeid med elsertifikatordningen i en artikkel datert 29. august 2013. Saken gjelder mulighet til å utvide ordningen til småkraftverkprosjekter bygd ut mellom 2004 og 2009 .