Energy Efficiency - a vital component of energy security!

Energy Efficiency Industrial Forum Position Paper 

In a move to support and give further momentum to the European Commission efforts towards energy efficiency, the Energy Efficiency Industry Forum has put forward a position paper highlighting the role of energy efficiency in energy security.

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Energy efficiency and standardization bodies (part 4 - The European Commission)

The increase in energy demand, the growing instability in energy supply and the EU CO2 emmissions reduction commitments have stressed the need for an international strategy on energy efficiency and the diversification of energy sources.

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The 27 National Energy Efficiency Action Plans of the EU

Based on a Discussion Webinar, Friday 29 February 2008

The EU's Energy End-use Efficiency and Energy Services Directive came into force in April 2006. The directive prescribes that all Member States should present a series of National Action Plans of which the first one was due for June 2007. These 27 action plans produce for the first time a European panorama on the energy efficiency sector, as well as a full compendium of measures used or planned by member states.

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The proposed EU renewables directive

A report from the discussion webinar held on Friday 22nd February 2008.

On the 23rd of January, the European Commission launched its final proposal for a Directive on the Promotion of the Use of Energy from Renewable Sources.

Leonardo ENERGY addressed this proposal on a discussion webinar on February 15th 2008. The focus was on the Guarantees of Origin (GoO) system that allows for cross-border transfers and on possible discrimination of certain renewable technologies. Furthermore, grid access issues and the internalisation of grid enforcement costs were also discussed.

The following are a few of the major points arising from that discussion.

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EU struggling with specifying its own targets

How should the 20 per cent renewables target be divided among the member states?

The EU has set two remarkable targets to be reached by 2020: 20 per cent energy saving and 20 per cent renewables in the energy mix. Those targets are remarkable because they were set without specifying in detail what the numbers meant or how they should be achieved. This resulted in two post factum discussions: how much does 1 per cent energy saving mean, and how should the 20 per cent renewables target be divided among the member states?

The latter is currently the subject of a heated debate in which all governments are running for cover. The debate failed to reach a conclusion in December and is postponed to the Commission meeting of 23 January 2008.

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Special Energy Council, 15 February

Following the adoption of the Commission’s Energy Package of the 10th January 2007, the EU Energy Ministers gathered in a Special Energy Council that took place the 15th February.

This was the first occasion for the Energy Ministers to discuss the Energy Package. The discussion demonstrated a strong support for the concepts and objectives laid in the Energy Package. However, definitive decisions on the concrete proposals were left aside, to be prepared to the March or June European (Energy) Councils.

In its conclusions, the Council acknowledges the importance and the urgency of taking actions on a number of issues:

• unbundling, even if there was no mention of the option to be pursued or even favoured
• need to harmonize and strengthen the powers of national regulators 
• need to establish an independent mechanism to promote cooperation between national regulators, particularly regarding cross-border issues
• need to create a new body to improve the coordination between Transmission System Operators
• the Commission’s intention to appoint co-ordinators for key infrastructures at EU level. The Council invited the Commission to table concrete proposals intending to streamline the approval procedures.

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Energy Package - the (simplified) math

In a recent speech, Commissioner Andris Piebalgs briefed the EPP on his energy package. Looking at the maths behind the package allows us to read between the lines and assess its level of ambition.

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Commissioner Piebalgs draws a very dark picture

During the EU Energy Law and Policy Conference held yesterday in Brussels, Commissioner Piebalgs made an intervention regarding the recent Energy Package launched by the European Commission.

The Commissioner expressed his concerns regarding the European Energy Policy, saying that without a comprehensive vision and a coherent framework, the EU will end up using more energy, importing more energy, emitting more CO₂ and running the risk of having fragmented national electricity and gas markets dominated by a single or handful of incumbents.

The Commissioner himself recognised that the EU does not have a common energy policy fit to deal with these challenges. He referred that the present direction of Europe’s energy policy will fail to contribute to Europe’s competitiveness, and the Internal Electricity and Gas Market is one of the vital elements and its not yet performing as it needs to.

An improvement in the effectiveness of energy regulation is a priority. Insufficient progresses have been made in a number of areas like unbundling, pricing mechanisms, harmonisation of technical standards that are necessary for cross-border trade among others. The European regulators need to have their powers reinforced in order to structure binding decisions on technical issues and mechanisms related to cross border issues.

He stressed that there is a need for a “new industrial revolution” and that the EU should take global leadership on pursuing it.

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