Articles on the EU Energy Union

Here is a compilation of the entries on my euroblogs introducing the Energy Union of the European Union.  

Eurooppaoikeus in Finnish

EU:n energiaunionin puitteet

EU:n energiaunionipaketti

Grahnblawg in Swedish

Åtgärdspaketet för en energiunion

Kring energiunionen i Europaparlamentet

Grahnlaw in English

State of the EU Energy Union

Second Report on the State of the Energy Union

Energy Union: Commission work programme for 2017  

Currently I am looking at one interesting member state in the EU, Denmark, before returning to the markets.

Ralf Grahn

Energy Union: Commission work programme for 2017

The blog entry Second Report on the State of the Energy Union offered a glance at the state of play until 1 February 2017.

Energy Union strategy

First, a reminder of the points of departure for the Energy Union.

In the publication A New Start for Europe you find a resilient energy union with a forward-looking climate change policy outlined as the third of the ten priorities of the Juncker Commission.

Soon enough, the new Commission launched its Energy Union Package, featuring most prominently the framework strategy communication and the annexed roadmap, with tens of promised actions and legislative proposals:

A Framework Strategy for a Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy; Brussels, 25.2.2015 COM(2015) 80 final

Roadmap for the Energy Union; Brussels, 25.2.2015 COM(2015) 80 final ANNEX 1

The Grahnlaw blog post State of the EU Energy Union mentioned the earlier entries in Finnish and Swedish, then compiled most of the press materials and official documents needed to bring us almost up to date.

In this blog article we turn our eyes to the near future, through the Commission work programme (CWP).

Commission work programme for 2017

Last autumn the European Commission published its annual communication:

Commission Work Programme 2017 - Delivering a Europe that protects, empowers and defends; Strasbourg, 25.10.2016 COM(2016) 710 final

On page 7 we find enough for a general orientation about promised 2017 actions regarding energy and climate change:

3. A Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy

A Europe that takes responsibility for delivery on promises made. The swift ratification of the Paris Agreement has shown that Member States can find common ground when it is clear that acting together the Union's impact is bigger than the mere sum of its parts. Moreover, it has confirmed the EU's global leading role on climate change. Delivery on our commitments is now needed to make the modernisation of our economy a reality whilst ensuring a socially fair transition. The implementation of the Paris Agreement and of the international agreement on emissions from aircraft (International Civil Aviation Organisation) is a priority here.

As already announced, we will continue to deliver on our Energy Union Strategy and present, by the end of this year, a comprehensive package aimed at managing the modernisation of the economy by placing energy efficiency first, pursuing the ambition to become world number one in renewable energies and providing a fair deal to consumers. This will encompass legislative action on energy efficiency, renewable energy including bioenergy sustainability, the design of the electricity market and the governance rules for the Energy Union. An initiative to Accelerate Clean Energy Innovation will support the research and market uptake of technological innovation needed for energy efficiency and renewables to meet the decarbonisation goals set by the Paris Agreement and our 2030 targets. All the Energy Union related legislative proposals presented by the Commission in 2015 and 2016 need to be addressed as a priority by the Parliament and Council. These include the above-mentioned package, the security of gas supply package24, the EU emissions trading system25 and related rules on effort-sharing26 and landuse and forestry27 .

We will also follow up on our Strategy on low-emission mobility presented in July. The aim will be to increase the efficiency of transport by responding to the mobility needs of people and goods and promoting lower emissions, including a gradual shift to zero emission vehicles, which will also enhance the competitiveness of the industry. To achieve this, as a first step we will present REFIT revisions of the car and light commercial vehicles Regulations, presenting strategies establishing zero- and low-emission standards post-2020, and the clean vehicles Directive to improve procurement incentives and rules. Applying the user-pay and polluter-pay principle, we intend to propose improvements for those Member States who choose to use road charging, including for the interoperability of electronic tolling services.

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24 COM(2016)52 final and COM(2016)53 final/2.

25 COM(2015)337 final/2.

26 COM(2016)482 final/2.

27 COM(2016)479 final.

New energy initiatives  

The first CWP annex with new initiatives COM(2016) 710 final ANNEX 1 promises:

A Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy

5. Implementation of the Energy Union Strategy: low-emission travel and mobility

REFIT revisions of several key pieces of legislation highlighted in the low-emission mobility action plan: post-2020 strategies on cars/vans and on lorries, buses and coaches (legislative, incl. impact assessment; Q2/2017); the Clean Vehicles Directive (incl. impact assessment; Art. 192 TFEU; Q2/2017); and the Eurovignette and European Electronic Toll Service (EETS) Directives (incl. impact assessment; Art. 91 TFEU; Q2/2017). This initiative includes the implementation of the international agreement on emissions from aircraft (ICAO) (legislative, incl. impact assessment; Art. 192 TFEU; Q1/2017) .

Energy REFIT

In the policy area of energy the second CWP annex COM(2016) 710 final ANNEX 2 with REFIT initiatives offers:

4. Combined Transport  

Revision of Directive 92/106/EEC on the establishment of common rules for certain types of combined transport of goods between Member States aimed at improving efficiency and effectiveness and ensuring further promotion of intermodal transport in EU (incl. impact assessment; Q4/2017). This revision follows-up on an evaluation concluded in 2016.

Pending energy proposals

The third CWP annex COM(2016) 710 final ANNEX 3 lists the priority pending proposals, with the following ones related to energy and climate change:

13. EU Emissions Trading System

Proposal for a DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL amending Directive 2003/87/EC to enhance cost-effective emission reductions and low carbon investments

COM/2015/0337 final/2 - 2015/0148 (COD) 03/09/2015

14. Efforts Sharing Decision

Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on binding annual greenhouse gas emission reductions by Member States from 2021 to 2030 for a resilient Energy Union and to meet commitments under the Paris Agreement and amending Regulation No 525/2013 of the European Parliament and the Council on a mechanism for monitoring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions and other information relevant to climate change

COM/2016/0482 final/2 - 2016/0231 (COD) 20/07/2016

15. Security of Gas Supply Package

Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL concerning measures to safeguard the security of gas supply and repealing Regulation (EU) No 994/2010

COM/2016/052 final - 2016/030 (COD) 16/02/2016

Proposal for a DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on establishing an information exchange mechanism with regard to intergovernmental agreements and non-binding instruments between Member States and third countries in the field of energy and repealing Decision No 994/2012/EU

COM/2016/053 final/2 - 2016/031 (COD) 02/06/2016

Ralf Grahn

Second Report on the State of the Energy Union

In the blog entry State of the EU Energy Union, I listed various official documents, including:

Second Report on the State of the Energy Union; Brussels, 1.2.2017 COM(2017) 53 final (15 pages)

Updated Roadmap for the Energy Union; Brussels, 1.2.2017 COM(2017) 53 final ANNEX 1 (21 pages)

The Energy Union’s five dimensions: policy observations at Member State and EU level; Brussels, 1.2.2017 COM(2017) 53 final ANNEX 2 (6 pages)

2nd report

The Second Report on the State of the Energy Union covers a lot of ground in clear prose, but I think we get the most mileage out of a fairly short excerpt if we go for the two introductory paragraphs:

For the Energy Union, 2016 was the year of delivery. It was a year in which the vision of the Energy Union Framework Strategy1 was further translated into concrete legislative and nonlegislative initiatives, most recently with the "Clean Energy for all Europeans" package presented on 30 November 2016. As a next step, the low emission mobility strategy2 will also be translated into concrete initiatives, in line with the Commission Work Programme for 2017. 3 It is important that the co-legislators work towards the adoption of the proposed initiatives without delay and in line with the Joint Declaration of the three institutions on the European Union's legislative priorities for 20174 , to allow for a swift energy transition on the ground.

The Energy Union is a European priority project, identified by the Juncker Commission as one of the 10 political priorities5 , in which five dimensions are closely interlinked: energy security, solidarity and trust; a fully integrated European energy market; energy efficiency contributing to moderation of demand; decarbonising the economy; and research, innovation and competitiveness. Progress has been made on all these dimensions.

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1 COM(2015) 80.

2 COM(2016) 501.

3 COM(2016) 710.

4 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32016C1224(01)&from=EN.

5 https://ec.europa.eu/priorities/sites/beta-political/files/juncker-political-guidelines-speech_en_0.pdf; see also the European Council's Strategic Agenda for the Union in the times of change, Annex I to the European Council conclusions of 26/27 June 2014.

Updated roadmap

The annexed Updated Roadmap for the Energy Union provides the state of play: an update per 1 February 2017 for the framework strategy initiatives, which have already been adopted or where the time schedule changed. You find the references to the proposals and actions.

Policy observations

The annex on the Energy Union’s five dimensions: policy observations at Member State and EU level offers main observations which can be drawn from national developments during 2016. The policy observations are the basis for a more in-depth analysis of Member States’ policies which the Commission intends to carry out in 2017.

On six pages only, the summaries offer a good overview.

Just a reminder to those, who want more:

Monitoring progress towards the Energy Union objectives – key indicators; Brussels, 1.2.2017 SWD(2017) 32 final (137 pages)

The Commission staff working document (SWD) is presented in the following manner (pages 4 and 5):

This SWD is an update of the one presented in 2015, building on exchanges with and feedback from the Member States and taking account of stakeholder opinions collected from related reports and events. The current set of indicators may be refined in the years to come depending on the availability of data for new, more suitable indicators, and on the development of new indicators able to provide more accurate evidence on particular policy lines or sub-sectors.

• The purpose of defining a set of energy and climate indicators and reflecting them in a scoreboard is threefold:

o to streamline the monitoring process and ensure coherence in the assessment of energy and climate policies;

o to provide a commonly-agreed metric to support policy-making process by monitoring progress on EU energy and climate objectives;

o to summarise, on a scoreboard, latest data and recent changes affecting the most relevant aspects of the five dimensions of the Energy Union.

Ralf Grahn

State of the EU Energy Union

My first Energy Union blog articles, first in Finnish, EU:n energiaunionin puitteet and EU:n energiaunionipaketti, then in Swedish, Åtgärdspaketet för en energiunion and Kring energiunionen i Europaparlamentet, brought us from the political guidelines via the launch to the European Parliament.

Therefore, in English we fast-forward to collecting the materials needed for an Energy Union update to 2017.

Energy Union press release update

Where is the Energy Union? Thank you for asking. If you are willing to read, these press releases and fact sheets plus links should offer you some initial impressions:

The Commission’s 1 February 2017 press relase IP/17/161 combined with assorted links to the Energy Union web page, the first State of the Energy Union Report IP/15/6105, the Energy Union launch press release IP/15/4497, the Clean Energy for All Europeans package press release IP/16/4009, the fact sheet on reaching the  energy efficiency target MEMO/17/162, the fact sheet on progress regarding renewable energy MEMO/17/163, the press release on the transition to a low-carbon economy IP/16/2545, the web page on the Second Report on the State of the Energy Union (with further links leading to the official documents of the 2nd report) and the web page of Maroš Šefčovič, who leads the Commission’s Energy Union project team.  

Second Energy Union report

If you crave something more serious, let us highligt the official documents, beginning with the communication and the two annexes, plus the Commission staff working document (179 pages in all):

Second Report on the State of the Energy Union; Brussels, 1.2.2017 COM(2017) 53 final (15 pages)

Updated Roadmap for the Energy Union; Brussels, 1.2.2017 COM(2017) 53 final ANNEX 1 (21 pages)

The Energy Union’s five dimensions: policy observations at Member State and EU level; Brussels, 1.2.2017 COM(2017) 53 final ANNEX 2 (6 pages)

The hefty accompanying Commission staff working document (SWD) was not indicated on the cover of the communication, nor is it available on Eur-Lex, but we are able to access it through the Commission web page on the second report:

Monitoring progress towards the Energy Union objectives – key indicators; Brussels, 1.2.2017 SWD(2017) 32 final (137 pages)

Energy progress reports

Then we have 80 pages of  progress reports and the like:

Renewable Energy Progress Report; Brussels, 1.2.2017 COM(2017) 57 final (18 pages)

2016 assessment of the progress made by Member States in 2014 towards the national energy efficiency targets for 2020 and towards the implementation of the Energy Efficiency Directive 2012/27/EU as required by Article 24 (3) of the Energy Efficiency Directive 2012/27/EU; Brussels, 1.2.2017 COM(2017) 56 final (14 pages)

Report on the functioning of the European carbon market; Brussels, 1.2.2017 COM(2017) 48 final (34 pages)

Report on the functioning of the European carbon market; Brussels, 1.2.2017 COM(2017) 48 final ANNEX 1 (5 pages)

Report on Implementation of Directive 2009/31/EC on the Geological Storage of Carbon Dioxide; Brussels, 1.2.2017 COM(2017) 37 final (4 pages)

Annex to the report; Brussels, 1.2.2017 COM(2017) 37 final ANNEX 1 (3 pages)

Quality of petrol and diesel fuel used for road transport in the European Union (Reporting year 2014 and 2015); Brussels, 1.2.2017 COM(2017) 49 final (2 pages)

***

That should keep us busy for a while.

Ralf Grahn

EU recommendation on smart metering systems

If we go to the EU Commission web page Energy > Internal market > Smart grids, we find the following enthusiastic text announcing new regulation:

9 March 2012

Preparations for the roll-out of smart metering systems

Commission paves the way for massive roll-out of smart metering systems. When consumers can follow their energy consumption in real time they can better control their energy bills. Smart metering systems will make this possible. Today only 10% of EU households have some sort of smart meter installed. Where economically worthwhile, 80% of all electricity meters in the EU have to be replaced by smart meters by 2020. To facilitate the take-up of this new technology the European Commission has published today a Recommendation to prepare the roll-out of smart-metering systems. It provides step-by-step guidelines for Member States on how to conduct cost-benefit analysis by 3 September 2012. It also sets common minimum functionalities of smart metering systems and addresses data protection and security issues.

Background information is also offered on the web page of the Digital Agenda for Europe: Action 73: Member States to agree common additional functionalities for smart meters Member States to agree by the end of 2011 on common additional functionalities for smart meters (advanced measuring devices, usually for electricity).


Official publication

The recommendation has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union:

COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION 2012/148/EU of 9 March 2012 on preparations for the roll-out of smart metering systems; OJEU 13.3.2012 L 73/9

The Commission recommendation deals with different issues in the separate sections:


I. DATA PROTECTION AND SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS

1. This section provides guidance to Member States on the design and operation of smart grids and smart metering systems ensuring the fundamental right to protection of personal data.

2. This section also provides guidance on measures to be taken for the deployment of smart metering applications in order to ensure that national legislation implementing Directive 95/46/EC is, where applicable, respected when such technologies are deployed.


II. METHODOLOGY FOR THE ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT OF THE LONG-TERM COSTS AND BENEFITS FOR THE ROLL-OUT OF SMART METERING SYSTEMS

30. This section provides guidance to Member States along with a framework for cost-benefit analysis as a foundation for conducting a consistent, credible and transparent economic assessment of the long-term costs and benefits of the roll-out of smart metering.


III. COMMON MINIMUM FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR SMART METERING SYSTEMS FOR ELECTRICITY

39. This section is based on best practice from early CBAs for smart metering of electricity carried out in 11 Member States. It provides guidance on measures to be taken to ensure that Member States make due use of appropriate interoperability and standards for smart metering systems currently being developed under Mandates M/441, M/468 and M/490 and of best practice.



Ralf Grahn
public speaker on EU affairs

P.S. Already multilingual Bloggingportal.eu aggregates the posts from 940 Euroblogs. They represent an important part of the emerging European online public space, discussion across national and linguistic borders. One of the most promising fresh entrants is the LSE European Politics and Policy (EUROPP) blog, where Ronny Patz recently wrote about the EU blogosphere and called for more academics to spread the word about their research and to discuss their findings closer to real life.

Among the Euroblogs on Bloggingportal.eu you find my current blog trio, Grahnlaw (recently ranked fourth among political blogs in Finland), the Nordic Grahnblawg (written in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (meaning European Law, in Finnish). I write and speak about democracy, institutional issues and EU politics, but increasingly about the challenges of growth (EU2020) and the (digital) single market in the making, including issues at policy level.

Baker's dozen of Grahnlaw & Co. on EU affairs

As a fan of the Crustum bakery and cafeterias in Helsinki, here is a baker's dozen to offer you the latest entries on my three unilingual (EN, FI, SV) blogs and the trilingual one, at a glance:

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: EU2020-strategia: Energia 2020

Grahnlaw: EU Council (TTE) more open and transparent (Will it last?)

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: Energy for Europe

Grahnblawg: Energi i EU: Sverige informerar

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: Förny(else)bar energi i Europeiska unionen

Grahnlaw: EU third energy package into force

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) inaugurated

Grahnlaw: Renewable energy materials: EU progress towards 2020 target

Eurooppaoikeus: EU:n työllisyys ja sosiaalipolitiikka: Suomi tiedotti (EPSCO)

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: EU:n työllisyys ja sosiaalipolitiikka: Neuvosto tiedotti (EPSCO)

Eurooppaoikeus: EU:n työllisyys ja sosiaalipolitiikka: Unkari tiedotti (EPSCO)

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: EU:n työllisyys ja sosiaalipolitiikka: Ruotsi tiedotti (EPSCO)

Grahnlaw: PM Reinfeldt on Sweden in the EU



Ralf Grahn


P.S. Are you interested in European values? How about the economy, business, politics, policies or law in the EU?

Civilised blog comments relevant to the topic are welcome on my blogs.

The multilingual comment policy means that you can write in one of the following languages: ES DA DE EN FR IT NL PT FI SV NO (even if my possible replies are in English, Finnish or Swedish depending on the blog and the post).

You can also find me on Twitter @RalfGrahn and Facebook.

Renewable energy materials: EU progress towards 2020 target

When the European Commission published its report on progress towards the 2020 target for renewable energy, it invited Member States to:

• implement the National Renewable Energy Action Plans;

• streamline infrastructure planning regimes while respecting existing EU environmental legislation and strive to conform to best practice;

• make faster progress in developing the electricity grid to balance higher shares of renewable energy;

• develop cooperation mechanisms and start integrating renewable energy into the European market;

• ensure that any reforms of existing national support schemes will guarantee the stability for investors, avoiding retroactive changes.

This blog post is a compilation of available materials from the Commission.


European Commission press releases

In customary manner, the European Commission presented two press releases on 31 January 2011 regarding the report about renewable energy, one with a brief overview (IP) and another one with some background (MEMO):

Renewable Energy Targets: Commission calls on Member States to boost cooperation (IP/11/113; published in English, French and German, the Commission working languages)

Commission Communication on renewable energy (MEMO/11/54; published only in English)


Communication COM(2011) 31

The centrepiece is the communication from the Commission:

Renewable Energy: Progressing towards the 2020 target; Brussels, 31.1.2011 COM(2011) 31 final (15 pages)

The communication on renewable energy is available through the legal portal Eur-Lex in 22 official EU languages.


Accompanying documents

The accompanying documents from the Commission staff are of interest to energy specialists:

Report on the operation of the mass balance verification method for the biofuels and bioliquids sustainability scheme in accordance with Article 18(2) of Directive 2009/28/EC; Brussels, 31.1.2011 SEC(2011) 129 final (in English only)

Recent progress in developing renewable energy sources and technical evaluation of the use of biofuels and other renewable fuels in transport in accordance with Article 3 of Directive 2001/77/EC and Article 4(2) of Directive 2003/30/EC; Brussels, 31.1.2011 SEC(2011) 130 final (In the absence of a bibliographic notice, we only know that there is this English version)

Review of European and national financing of renewable energy in accordance with Article 23(7) of Directive 2009/28/EC; Brussels, 31.1.2011 SEC(2011) 131 final (only in English)


Latest: Energy ministers

From the meeting of the energy ministers in the TTE Council 28 February 2011 we know the following:

Renewable energy - progressing towards the 2020 target

The Commission briefed ministers on the progress made towards the 2020 target for renewable energy and presented its communicaiton adopted in January (5965/11)

[link in the original]

Source: TTE conclusions, page 11, in:

3072nd Council meeting Transport, Telecommunications and Energy: ENERGY; Brussels, 28 February 2011 (Council document 6950/11)



Ralf Grahn


P.S. Do you want to explore the world of Euroblogs? One place to start are the Fleishman-Hillard Netvibes pages, which have categories for noteworthy journalists, citizens, EUofficials, Commissioners, MEPs, corporate and collective blogging about EU affairs, as well as the FH selection of ten must-read Euroblogs.


P.S. 2: To help you get an overview of my three unilingual blogs (EN, FI, SV) and one trilingual one, here are links to my ten latest entries:


Grahnblawg: EU: Information och energi inför TTE-rådet

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: Energin inför EU:s vårtoppmöte om ekonomi och näringsliv

Eurooppaoikeus: EU:n energian tukkumarkkinoiden säätely: Paremmin ja avoimemmin

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: EU2020-strategia: Energia 2020

Grahnlaw: EU Council (TTE) more open and transparent (Will it last?)

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: Energy for Europe

Grahnblawg: Energi i EU: Sverige informerar

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: Förny(else)bar energi i Europeiska unionen

Grahnlaw: EU third energy package into force

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) inaugurated


Are you interested in European values? How about the economy, business, politics, policies or law in the EU? Civilised blog comments relevant to the topic are welcome on Grahnlaw and the multilingual comment policy means that you can write in one of the following European languages: ES DA DE EN FR IT NL PT FI SV NO (even if my possible replies are in English). You can also find me on Twitter @RalfGrahn and Facebook.