Why the future of European renewables policy may be decided in Washington and not in Brussels
In the last few years, several EU member states have reduced support to renewable energy, leading to numerous claims that these policy changes retroactively affected existing investments and that the practice of ‘grandfathering’ should have been observed. Among these, the case of Spain stands out, both due to the material size of the cuts and […]
The EU power sector needs long-term price signals
By 2030, half of the EU’s electricity demand will be covered by renewables and will need to be accompanied by flexible conventional back-up resources. Due to the high upfront costs inherent to renewables and the progressively lower running times associated with back-up capacity, the cost of capital will have a proportionately greater impact on total […]
Fostering Investment in Cross-Border Energy Infrastructure in Europe: Report of the High-Level Group on Energy Infrastructure in Europe
Chairman of High-Level Group: Edmond Alphandéry Series: Externally Published Work In order to achieve the EU’s energy and climate objectives, sustained investments will be required across the energy value chain, including power generation, gas pipelines, electricity transmission grids as well as distribution grids. The European Commission has estimated that over €1 trillion will need to […]
A Roadmap to Enhanced Regional Energy Policy: Cooperation in South East Europe
Authors: Anna Dimitrova, Christian Egenhofer and Arno Behrens Series: Background Briefing Paper No of pp: 7 pp Regional Energy Policy Cooperation has now gained political traction in the EU as a tool to advance the EU’s energy objectives. Cooperation and coordination is meant to facilitate the convergence of markets and policies, so while the creation […]
Gas demand for power generation peaked as early as 2010
Authors: Fabio Genoese, Eleanor Drabik and Christian Egenhofer Series: CEPS Commentary The outlook for natural gas demand is often considered bright, especially for gas used to generate electricity. This is because gas is the cleanest of all fossil fuels. The carbon intensity of modern gas-fired power stations is less than 50% that of modern coal […]
Europe’s LNG Strategy in the Wider EU Gas Market
Authors: Gergely Molnar, Arno Behrens, Christian Egenhofer and Fabio Genoese Series: CEPS Policy Brief No. 333 No of pp: 8 In its Communication on an Energy Union published in February 2015, the European Commission committed itself to “explore the full potential of liquefied natural gas (LNG), including as a back-up in crisis situations when insufficient […]
Low-cost batteries will not disrupt (all) energy utilities
Author: Fabio Genoese Series: CEPS Commentary No of pp: 3 With the launch last April of an affordable lithium-ion home battery – the Powerwall – Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk is betting that batteries are going to become a mass market. This may very well become reality, but this commentary argues that one should not jump […]
Reforming the Market Design of EU Electricity Markets
This CEPS Task Force Report focuses on whether there is a need to adapt the EU’s electricity market design and if so, the options for doing so. In a first step, it analyses the current market trends by distinguishing between their causes and their consequences. Then, the current blueprint of EU power market design – […]
EU Climate and Energy Governance: There’s more to it than meets the eye
In this new CEPS Commentary, a team of climate and energy specialists argue that a reliable system of climate and energy governance in the EU would certainly need to go beyond the issues that are identified in the 2030 framework for climate and energy and the Energy Union. In their view, such a system would […]
Effective Regional Energy Policy Cooperation in South East Europe
The implementation of regional energy policy cooperation initiatives is a priority of both the Energy Union and the so-called 2030 Energy and Climate Framework. The Energy Union proposal has singled out south east Europe as one area in which to act. This report identifies the seven key elements that need to be addressed to bring […]
Making the most of Energy Union
By elevating “Energy Union” to the status of a Commission mission statement, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker succeeded in forging a new EU consensus on energy and climate change at the October European Council meeting. In a move that was made possible by linking the internal energy market and climate change agendas to security of supply, […]
Energy Union: Can Europe learn from Japan’s joint gas purchasing?
Japan’s two major electricity producing companies reached a preliminary agreement recently to establish a joint venture for the procurement of fossil fuel resources, primarily liquefied natural gas (LNG). The authors of this commentary ask whether this commercial initiative could serve as an example to Europe of how to increase the negotiating power of individual EU […]