8-7-2022 – Last week, the Council adopted its General Approach for both the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) and the Renewable Energy Directive (RED). currENT congratulates the outgoing French Presidency on this achievement. The references to network optimisation in Article 25 of the EED are particularly welcome.
Energy Efficiency Directive
currENT welcomes the Council’s support for a legal basis of the Energy Efficiency First Principle in Article 3, but does not support the addition that this should only be taken into consideration for large-scale investments of more than 150 million euros.
currENT very much welcomes the additional references in Article 25 to network optimisation, which states that Member States shall “take cost-effective measures to optimise networks, where it is technically and financially feasible,” and NRAs shall “provide for incentives to transmission and distribution system operators to optimise networks where it is technically and financially feasible.” Now it will be key to establish how technical and financial feasibility would be defined.
Renewable Energy Directive
currENT very much welcomes the support of the Council in considering the “production of energy from renewable sources, their connection to the grid and the related grid itself and storage assets […] as being in the interest of public health and safety and carried out for imperative reasons of overriding public interest”. currENT believes grid optimisation technologies should also be included in this definition.
However, with regards to Article 1 (4) New paragraph 7a, which states that Member States shall agree to establish with one or more other Member States at least one joint project for the production of renewable energy by the end of 2025, currENT does not support that Member States should now merely ´endeavor´ to agree on establishing one joint project. currENT believes this should be a binding target, and even increased to more than one joint project.