Sustainable Energy Law Notebook

The Department for Petroleum and Energy Law of the University of Oslo, the Center for Energy Law of the University of Gröningen and the Dutch Energy Law Association are pleased to inform you that the 27th European Energy Law Seminar will take place on 25 and 26 January 2016 . The location is the Hilton hotel, The Hague, The Netherlands . The programme is available and can be downloaded here . Topics covered include: Energy Union, protection of investments in energy infrastructures, latest EU case law, recent competition cases, offshore electricity grid, EU LNG strategy, smart metering, heat supply, internal energy market, tariff codes, COP21 results and climate change litigation. You can register online by clicking the link or complete the Registration Form and send it to seminar@never.nl . In case you may have any questions please contact seminar@never.nl or myself at catherine.banet@jus.uio.no . Early bird rates are available. I hope to see you in...

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 .

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 Norwegian Wind Energy Association ( Norwea ) is organising, together with the law firm Arntzen de Besche, its yearly fall conference on 25 November 2015.  The topic is "From Sweden and the EU to Norwegian wind energy policy" .  I am glad to hold a presentation on the possible effects of the new 2030 energy and climate targets for Norway and their legal force. Conference : " Fra Sverige og EU til norsk vindkraftpolitikk ", Norweas høst konferanse Time and place : 25 November 2015 , 12.00-16.30, Bygdøy allé 2, 0257 Oslo Programme : http://www.norwea.no/nyhetsarkiv/visning-nyheter/«fra-sverige-og-eu-til-norsk-vindkraftpolitikk»-programmet-for-hoestkonferansen-er-klart.aspx?Action=1&M=NewsV2&PID=1145 

Following its   decision of 9 October 2015 , the   French Council of State (Conseil d'Etat)   has lodged on 19 October a request for   preliminary ruling   to the Court of Justice of the European Union (EU) concerning the   conformity of the French capacity market mechanism to primary EU law , and in particular   Article 34 and 36 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) on free movement rules .  The question referred to the Court will be a new opportunity for the latter to pronounce itself on restrictions to the free movement of goods based on nationality for the purpose of security of energy supply . Parallels can be drawn with the 2014 decision of the Court in the Ålands Vindkraft case in relation to another certificates market (the French scheme being by design a trading scheme) - although based on another justification ground, i.e. environmental protection - (see my comment here ) and to refresh its case law in Campus Oil decision r...

The Swedish National Audit Office ( Riksrevisionen ) has just published a report on how Vattenfall performs in the energy transition . More precisely, the report looks at the role played by the Swedish state in terms of governance and concludes that " the government has not been sufficiently proactive in its governance of the company and has not followed up emission reductions ." Full report in Swedish available here . And English summary here . Source : "Vattenfall - konkurrenskraftigt och ledande i energiomställningen?" (RiR 2015:6) "Vattenfall - a competitive leader in energy transition?" (RiR 2015:6)

The 27th European Energy Law Seminar is organised on 25-26 January 2016 in The Hague, The Netherlands (hotel Hilton). On the programme:  Energy Union, protection of investments in energy infrastructures, latest EU case law, recent competition cases, offshore electricity grid, EU LNG strategy, smart metering, energy storage, heat supply, internal energy market, tariff codes, offshore safety regulation, electricity storage, transparency in supply contracts, retail energy markets. Full programme and registration details will be published shortly on the Dutch Energy Law Association NeVER website: http://www.never.nl Further information : NeVER secretariat secretariaat@never.nl or University of Oslo catherine.banet@jus.uio.no Organisation committee institutions : NeVER; University of Groningen, Centre of Energy Law; University of Oslo, Petroleum and Energy Law Department of the Scandinavian Institute of Maritime Law