L R AS Published on Sunday 17 December 2023 - n° 470 - Categories:Europe
Provisional European agreement to reform the EU electricity market
The European Council and the European Parliament have reached a provisional agreement to reform the EU electricity market. The aim is to increase the uptake of renewable energies on the continent.
Promoting power purchase agreements
National governments should provide direct financial support to PPAs signed within their borders, increasing the number of renewable energy installations selling electricity directly to national governments.
By allowing governments to act as potential customers for electricity generated from renewable sources, new clean energy installations could be seen as more financially viable.
Companies will be encouraged to sign PPAs, backed by national guarantees.
Encouraging producers to sell surplus energy
Europeans now have the right to sell their surplus solar energy to their neighbours or to buy solar energy in their community at a lower cost.
Strive to limit fluctuations in electricity prices
National governments are now required to use contracts for difference with fixed ceiling and floor prices when investing in new electricity generation facilities. Fixed prices are intended to minimise electricity price fluctuations, which are more prevalent in renewable energy generation than in fossil fuels.
The Council and the European Commission will be able to declare an energy price "crisis", which would allow the Council and Parliament to lower electricity prices for what they call "renewable energy".This would allow the Council and Parliament to lower electricity prices for what they call "vulnerable and disadvantaged customers" in Europe.
https://www.pv-tech.org/eu-reaches-provisional-agreement-on-electricity-market-design-reforms/
PV Tech of 15 December 2023
Editor's note: the dirigiste nature of the European authorities is evident here: they want to regulate, forecast and adjust energy prices. The current situation is based on renewable energies being cheaper than fossil fuels. There is no guarantee that this will always be the case (a shortage of photovoltaic components from Chinese producers would be enough to change the situation). There's nothing to say that the drive towards all-electricity won't raise problems of price and access to energy, as this week's articles on the operating costs of heat pumps demonstrate.
They want to manage everything, whereas the failure of the French Planning Commission should be a wake-up call to these "decision-makers".
