A “Winter package” which suits its name!

As the climax of a year which saw Brexit and the growing mistrust in member countries towards an organisation which is felt to be evermore intrusive, the European Commission stayed firmly on track, with no sign of any inferiority complex, when publishing its 6000-plus page Winter Package on 30/11/2017, focused on energy transition (4th Energy Package since 1996)! It consists of a series of documents (Decisions, Regulations, Draft Directives, Guidelines, impact studies, etc.) published under the title of:

Clean energy for all Europeans – Unlocking Europe’s growth potential

With the ambitious aim of:

Reducing CO2 emissions by at least 40% by 2030, while modernising the EU’s economy and creating jobs and growth for all European citizens

With a “European resolution proposal” from the Senate (16/02/2017) and an “Information report on the new organisation of the electricity market for the 4th Energy package” from the National Assembly (23/02/2017), the debate is well underway.

And so what if in the end, the positive proposals for energy, the economy and growth in the European Union should come from the Commission? There are many sceptics! We are offering a far from complete review of the contents of this package, the proposals it makes and the discussions taking place.

What does the package contain?

All the documents are available at the following address:

https://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/news/commission-proposes-new-rules-consumer-centred-clean-energy-transition

There are 86 documents available at this webpage (not including translations),  representing 37 texts, of very varied types and importance, including eight major legislative proposals, subject to the joint decision procedure (European Parliament and Council of the EU), which form the body of this fourth package the Commission has produced since 1996:

  1. Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the internal market for electricity (revision);
  2. Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on common rules for the internal market in electricity(revision);
  3. Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council, establishing a European Union Agency for the cooperation of energy regulators (recast);
  4. Regulation on risk preparedness in the electricity sector (new);
  5. Directive on energy efficiency (revision);
  6. Directive on buildings energy performance (revision);
  7. Directive on renewable energy sources (revision);
  8. Ruling on EU energy governance (new).

(Documents shown in bold are of particular interest to our readers).

Let’s summarise the main measures

(This summary is not intended to be complete)

  1. Renewable energy sources
  • The goals for 2030 are: share of renewables in energy 27% (globally across the EU), share of renewables in electricity 50%.
  • Expansion of available calls to tender and compensation payments.
  • Implementation of technically neutral calls to tender.
  • As regards heating (and cooling), promotion of policies to increase the renewables contribution by 1% a year, and provide conditional access to grids for renewable energy producers.
  • Limitations on first-generation bio-fuels.
  • The source guarantee system is made more coherent: it is also extended to non-renewable electricity production (nuclear, cogeneration, etc.) and to gas.
  • Promotion of self-generation.
  1. Energy efficiency
  • The aim is to reduce consumption by 30% (15% during the period 2020-2030). We note that industries subject to ETS may be excluded from the calculation, as well as from home consumption of renewable energy.
  1. Organisation of the electricity market: New market design
  • Priority given to the consumer and the internal market.
  • The main innovations relate to:
    1. Strengthening short-term markets
    2. Removal of price cap
    3. Strengthening market-based dispatching rules
    4. Strengthening the contribution from demand (load shedding)
    5. Disappearance of regulated and social tariffs
    6. Dynamic supply obligatory
    7. Restriction on the role of grids in storage
  • Although this project restates trust in the market (energy only), as regards security of supply, it also recognises the possibility of the capacity mechanism. These mechanisms will however be strictly controlled, and must take account of cross-border availability, justifying their need (regional security analysis) in order to be considered compatible with guidelines relating to State aid.
  • Creation of regional operational centres: ROCs for network managers
  • Strengthening supra-national regulation (New prerogatives given to ACER)

So where does the debate crystallise?

With the Commission, which confirms it is moving fast with this package (Vice-president responsible for the Energy Union, Maros Sefcovic, announced on 1st February that he was planning for the legislative process to be launched on all texts by the end of 2017), the participants have quickly crystallised the debate on a number of points:

  • A tendency to greater intrusion, sometimes overturning the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality
    • Possible jeopardy for the capacity mechanism (Senate, National Assembly, UFE).
    • Significant changes to ACER’s areas of competence: Unspoken and unwarranted slippage towards the setting up of a European regulator (National Assembly)
    • Creation of Regional Operational Centres (ROC), jeopardising the subsidiarity principle (RTE, National Assembly, UFE)
  • Planned disappearance of regulated and social tariffs (National Assembly)
  • Failure to recognise nuclear as the technology that contributes to the decarbonisation of electricity (Senate)
  • Failure to mention a cap on CO2 price or carbon tax (RTE, Senate)
  • Jeopardising compensation to suppliers by load shedding operators (CRE, National Assembly)
  • Storage limitations too strict (RTE, National Assembly)
  • Promotion of technological neutrality for renewables (Renewable Energies Syndicate, DGEC, RTE)
  • Cap on first-generation bio-fuels (Renewable Energies Syndicate, sector members such as the Avril group)

It is clearly too soon for final decisions on these proposals, and as a provisional conclusion, we also want to paraphrase the European Business Commission of the National Assembly, in its report on 23 February 2017:

“Generally positive, but sometimes intrusive proposals” so “stay vigilant”!

Philippe Boulanger

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Each month, one of our experts publishes an article describing his view on a specific topic of the constant changes taking place in the energy market, with special focus on the French market.

Profesional Experience & Education

Diego graduated in Political Economy at King’s College University (London – 2021). He started his professional career in a family business in Madrid as an operations manager. Diego then studied a Master in Management and Master in Computer Science at IE University (Madrid – 2022), during which he participated as an Information Technology (IT) intern in a startup. In May 2023, Diego joined the HES team as an intern specialised in programming models. In his first project, he developed a software tool for modelling the unavailability of the French nuclear fleet. Afterwards, Diego has also participated in the development of new software tools for modelling price curves, generation asset performance and other topics related to the energy market. 

Diego Marroquin

Junior Consultant

Diego Marroquín

Profesional Experience

Céline joined Haya Energy Solutions in November 2021 as marketing and administration manager. She had a first professional experience in the tourism sector as a social media manager. At HES, her activities are focused on the development of the company’s visibility at European level through: commercial actions, content marketing and development of brand strategy. Céline is also involved in the management of the company’s communication: optimisation of the website (WordPress & Elementor), LinkedIn, publication of the monthly newsletter and the organisation of conferences. Céline participates in energy projects with the clients and acts as coordinator and project manager. Finally, she is in charge of administration (accounting, expenses management, invoicing).   

Education

Céline graduated in Spanish and English Philology at La Sorbonne (France – 2018) and holds a Master’s degree in Project Management and Cultural Tourism (Clermont-Ferrand/ Buenos Aires – 2021). 

Céline Haya Sauvage

Marketing Responsible

Céline Sauvage

Investment Advice

“Decarbonization of the Energy and Transport sectors is arguably today’s main economic driver for the industry.”

Profesional Experience

His career started in civil engineering as a Project Manager in France, Martinique and Australia. Afterwards, he became the General Manager of a subsidiary in Venezuela. In 1992, he established Dalkia in Germany (district heating, cogeneration, and partnerships) and represented Véolia in Thailand. In 2000, he opened the commercial office of Endesa in France to take advantage of the liberalized retail market. From 2006, as a development Manager at Endesa France, he led Endesa’s plan for Combined Cycle generation in France and developed the wind and PV portfolio of Snet at the same time. Philippe Boulanger worked for 3 years at E.ON’s headquarters coordinating the company´s activities in France. He was strongly involved in the French hydro concession renewal project. As a Senior Vice President – Project Director at Solvay Energy Services from April 2012 to February 2014 he was in charge of the H2/Power to gas and European direct market access deployment projects. Philippe has been an HES expert since 2014.

Education

Philippe Boulanger holds engineering degrees both from the Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole Nationale des Ponts & Chaussées (France) and has a combined experience of more than 25 years in energy and infrastructure. In addition to English, Mr. Boulanger is fluent in French, German & Spanish.

Philippe Boulanger

Electricity Expert

HES-Philippe-Boulanger

“The world is changing. New investors pay particular attention to the energy sector while historical actors adapt their position to the market.”

Profesional Experience

Antonio started his career in the electricity sector in 1991 working as a member of the General Manager’s team at Sevillana de Electricidad (Spain). In 1997, he was appointed head of commercial regulation at Endesa Distribución. In 2000, he joined the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) department of Endesa Europe. He was appointed Managing Director of Endesa Power Trading Ltd (UK) in 2003. A year later, he became responsible for energy management at SNET (France). In 2008, he was appointed Managing Director of SNET (France). In 2009, he became Director of Corporate Development at E.ON France. In 2011, he founded Haya Energy Solutions (HES), a consulting firm focused on optimising the energy management of consumers, producers and retailers of gas and electricity. From 2015 to 2018, Antonio combined the consulting activity at HES with the general management of 2 production facilities in France (2 CCGTs x 410MW), owned by KKR. At the end of 2018, he joined Asterion Industrial Partners, an infrastructure investment fund, as an operating partner. Antonio currently devotes most of his efforts to the Asterion Portfolio, while advising through HES companies in the energy sector in France, Italy, Germany, UK and Spain. 

Education

Antonio graduated from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros of Seville (Spain) and holds an MBA degree from Deusto University (Spain). 

Antonio Haya

CEO