Sustainable Energy Law Notebook

To be published in December 2009, this book looks at the political and legal components of the energy relationship between the European Union (EU) and Russia. It analyses the legal framework and instruments in place to deal with EU-Russia energy trade. Of particular interest for lawyers is: Section II on Legal Aspects of EU-Russia Energy Relations; and Section III on Changing the Rules for the EU Natural Gas Markets - From State to Market and Plan to Contract. I look forward to reading and commenting section III as it relates to the manner EC competition rules affect energy trade and gas projects with Russia. Several questions are raised here: the regulation of cross-border gas pipelines, the effect of unbundling rules, the third country clause implications, EC rules on third party access effects on gas agreements with Russia, the legacy and legality of the 2009 recent gas conflict. I guess a review of competition rules of vertical nature in gas supply contracts is also included, suc...

Energy is a good subject to the rules of the internal market. Energy is also much more when it comes to the wideness of the sectors it impacts, the strongness of this economic activity, and the political dimension of it. My intention here is not to encompass all these dimensions, but to try to understand which changes may bring the "re-launch of the single market" in the energy sector, as it is proposed by president Barroso in his Political Guidelines for the next Commission . Defining the internal energy market is to that respect a narrower exercise than defining European energy policy. The "EU 2020" vision defended in the Guidelines is enshrined in the values of the internal market and contains two dimensions: " Internally , it is based on a staunch defence of the internal market, and the competition and state aid rules, which provide a level playing field guaranteeing access and opportunity for all, irrespective of size or might - namely consumers and SMEs....

During the last two days, the economic section of the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten has echoed existing divergences on the usefulness of a green certificates scheme, and ultimately the necessity to introduce it nationally and/or regionally with Sweden (see my previous post). On Monday, Economics professor M. Hoel criticised the scheme for being expensive and ineffective as regards renewable energy (" Grønne sertifikater er dyr og formåløs moro med fornybar energi .") He argues that if the purpose is to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, better do it by buying emissions allowances on the European market. The Norwegian minister in charge of energy answered today the criticisms (see picture) in an article that was a release to read. The minister is very right when he recalls that green certificates do not aim to directly reduce greenhouse gas, but to support primarily renewable energy production. Beside any collaboration within Nordic or European countries, there are so...

On 7 September 2009, the Norwegian and Swedish ministers in charge of energy concluded an agreement on the future establishment of a common green certificates scheme by 2012. This has been enabled by the adoption of Directive 2009/28/EC of 23 April 2009 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources which repeals Directive 2001/77/EC (see Article 11 - Joint support schemes). Here is the article I wrote on the issue recently published in the Bulletins Electroniques : Politiques de soutien aux énergies renouvelables : Norvège et Suède adoptent le principe d'un marché commun de certificats verts pour 2012 http://www.bulletins-electroniques.com/actualites/60678.htm

The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten has published today a test entitled " Hvorfor er det billigere å vaske tøyet om natten? " (" Why is that cheaper to wash your clothes at night? ") , which offers readers the opportunity to test their knowledge about the possibility, procedure and conditions to change of energy provider, the tariff structure of the electricity bill or some support scheme to energy savings in favour of the household sector. This test, which certainly focuses on the Norwegian context (but as part of the EEA Agreement, Norway is implementing the EC energy legislation), underlines a very central issue in the opening of the electricity retail market to competition: final customers do not always have a clear understanding of the rights the full liberalisation of the energy market gave them. Public authorities, in particular under the initiative of regulators, are developing information tools, such as in France the website http://www.energie-info.fr/ . Bu...

On Thursday 24 September, Claude Turmes, Member of the European Parliament (EP), and recognised leader of climate and renewable energy policies at the European assembly, will address the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). This blog reported on several works of the CPUC, and I cannot be more glad to see the reflection on experience sharing and best practices in the are of regulation of renewables and energy efficiency be concretised in such a way. So, book your agenda. Here is the flyer . Claude Turmes was in particular rapporteur in the following EP legislative procedures : Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources; Regulation (EC) 1099/2008 on energy statistics; European Parliament Resolution of 13 March 2008 on Global Energy Efficiency and Renewaeble Energy Fund (GEEREF); EP Resolution of 29 September 2005 on the share of renewable energy in the EU - Proposals for concrete actions; and before that the second (and former) electricty ...

Working Group III (on ‘Mitigation of Climate Change’) of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is currently preparing a Special Report on ‘Renewable EnergySources and Climate Change Mitigation’ (SRREN) . The latter will be finalised during the second half of 2010, officially adopted in December 2010, and published in 2011. Authors are meeting these days in Oslo (1-4 Sept.), after their first meeting in January in Brazil. According to its mandate, the report should provide a better understandingof: resources availability by region and the effects of climate change; the mitigation potential of renewable energy sources (RES); RES market and technological status; sustainable development goals and RES; relationship to energy security (global, regional and national); options and constraints for integration into the energy supply systems and other markets, including energy storage; costs and benefits; policy options and conditions for effectiveness (!). The scope of the report is ...