Join 400+ innovators at THE European event on innovation in power networks: 2019 InnoGrid2020 + Conference

The 2019 InnoGrid2020 + Conference, co-organised by the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) and the European Distribution System Operators’ Association (E.DSO), will take place in Brussels on 13-14 May 2019.

This year’s conference will focus on ‘Connecting Physics and Digits: Power Platforms on the Rise.’ You will hear from the industry’s CEOs on innovation strategies dos and don’ts, discover today’s rising power platforms, and debate needed support from regulation, policy and financing. The interactive breakout sessions and networking exhibition will get you acquainted with pilots and projects on key matters such as active system management, sector coupling and storage, advanced grid resilience and innovations for the physical grid.

Don’t miss the annual event on innovation in the European electricity networks & register now

As for previous editions, we are expecting no less than 400 participants from the industry, associations, EU institutions, regulators, academic world and EU Member States to debate developments for our electricity grids of the future.

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2019 InnoGrid2020+ is sponsored by Epri and Smart Wires and by Cyient, n-Side and Supergrid Institute. The event is organised in the partnership with the Florence School of Regulation, ISGAN and LFEnergy.

Air Ticket Distribution and Regulation 80/2009 on a Code of Conduct for Computerised Reservation Systems (CRS)

The European Commission’s DG MOVE together with the Florence School of Regulation’s Transport Area are co-organising an executive seminar to exchange views on the evaluation of Regulation 80/2009 on a Code of Conduct for Computerised Reservation Systems (CRS) around five key issues including relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and EU added value. At the same time the seminar shall provide an opportunity for a first discussion on possible ways forward taking into account the broader context of the air ticket distribution market. The seminar will gather representatives from all interested stakeholder groups, such as airlines, technology companies and travel agencies.

Continue reading “Executive Seminar on Code of Conduct for Computerised Reservation Systems”

The modernization of the electricity grid may change deeply the economic properties of electricity systems. Part of these changes have been discussed in recent years within the context of Smart Grids: a potential end-state of the evolution of the system is a platform where all resources (distributed or not) could be connected and be part of a multi-layered optimization. An additional step in the evolution of electric networks is to consider the convergence with ICT networks, which also involves creating a unique network (sharing resources and a common architecture), with the aim of making possible new transactions. For instance, the TLC industry has experienced this kind of process: the convergence of voice, data and video has created value and facilitated innovation.

From that point of view, three possible stages in the evolution of electric networks can be considered:

1. the ‘current-path’ system, where unidirectional use of the distribution system is assumed and advanced technologies are used to improve reliability, resiliency, safety and efficiency;
2. an intermediary-based system where a platform enables exchange (e.g. Amazon);
3. a network where profit is based on the collective value of an ecosystem (e.g. Cisco’s Internet of Everything).

Benefitting from IRENA’s new report on innovation: “Innovation Landscape for a Renewable-Powered Future: Solutions to integrate variable renewables”, we will engage in a collaborative conversation, where the focus will be put on the role of distributed ledger technologies in achieving network convergence. Each speaker will have 5-10 min to present her/his view, followed by an open Q&A.

Speakers

Elena Ocenic (IRENA)

Enrique Merono (Iberdrola)

Rolf Riemenschneider (DG CONNECT)

Moderator

Miguel Vazquez (FSR Energy Innovation)

An annual FSR Energy Union Law workshop on Competition Policy for the Energy Transition, in collaboration with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, will bring together key players in the field to analyse and debate the role of competition law according to the newest developments across the EU energy sector.

In this edition, we will open by considering a wish list for the new Commission before turning to three key themes surrounding competition law policy and the energy transition;

Competition and the Energy Transition I: New Wine in Old Bottles or Old Wine in New Bottles?

In this session, among other topics, we will look at the new market design challenges, market abuse issues especially focusing on the inquiry into the German electricity wholesale market, and marginal cost-pricing particularly comparing the German and Spanish approach.

Competition Policy for the Energy Transition II: A New Era of Hypercompetitiveness

For this session, we will explore the notion of hypercompetitiveness in the EU energy transition stemming from a recent report, taking in perspectives from industry, the legal and economic field, as well as an EU institutional approach. We will then take a look at this from a global angle, examining the LNG inquiry.

Competition Policy for the Energy Transition III: Are the State Aid Rules Fit for Purpose?  

In this final session, we will turn to State Aid and consider its role in the energy transition. We will particularly focus on the ECJ ruling in Germany v Commission of March 2019

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This workshop brought together academia, stakeholders and senior policy makers from different carbon markets worldwide, in a unique process for a fruitful exchange on carbon market integration. The workshop, jointly organised with  DG Climate Action of the European Commission, is part of the so called ‘Florence process’ aimed to stimulate the on-going debate on carbon markets amongst international policymakers and experts. The event was a follow-up of the LIFE SIDE project.  Co-funded under the LIFE Programme, the project which was completed in December 2018, has been supporting policymakers with the implementation of the EU ETS.

Workshop by invitation only and held under the Chatham House Rule.

Previous workshops of the Florence Process:

First Carbon Market Workshop, 25 September 2017

Second Carbon Market Workshop, 14 May 2018

This online debate “Flexibility in the electricity sector” will address the issue of how flexibility can be promoted and rewarded efficiently and effectively in an electricity system that features a growing share of renewables. Insights from two European-funded projects, SmartNet and OSMOSE, will feed the debate.

Market design for a decarbonised and decentralised electricity sector

The growing penetration of renewable energy sources in the European generation mix is changing the context upon which power markets and system operation were established in the 1990s. At that time, large and dispatchable thermal power plants dominated the supply side and had to modulate their production to follow the load and keep the system in balance. Today, smaller and intermittent plants with negligible variable costs are getting the centre-stage. Wind farms are a classic example. This transformation requires that new sources of flexibility are incentivised and optimised. The market architecture that emerged in Europe in the past 30 years may not be the most suitable to do that job.

Moderated by:

• Nicolo Rossetto (FSR)

Speakers:

• Guillaume Lehec (ENGIE)
• Gianluigi Migliavacca (SmartNet project, RSE)
• Christoph Weber (OSMOSE project, Duisburg-Essen University)
• Tim Schittekatte (FSR)

An open Q&A will follow.

FSR online debate in collaboration with the Horizon2020 projects SmartNet and Osmose

The “Sector Coupling 2.0” workshop of the 2018-2019 FSR Regulatory Policy Workshop Series will address Power to Gas in the EU Decarbonisation Strategy.

In October 2018, the Florence School of Regulation organised its first Workshop on “Coupling the Sectors”, as part of this Regulatory Policy Workshop Series. The discussion not only covered the coupling of the electricity and gas sectors and markets but also highlighted that power-to-gas could be a game changer in allowing sector coupling. However, the regulatory and market design implications of power-to-gas technologies at network scale were not explored.

This Workshop will continue the debate focusing on the implications of the deployment of power-to-gas technologies for sector coupling and the appropriate regulatory and market design responses.

The event will reflect on whether power-to-gas facilities should be considered as part of the gas or electricity networks (and therefore their ownership and operation reserved to transmission owners or transmission system operators), or if instead they can be considered as performing an activity open to competition or, thirdly, a combination of the two regimes.

It will consider to what extent the development of power-to-gas facilities might be promoted by the coordination of spot and forward markets in electricity and gas, so that such facilities (together with the gas networks and the gas-fired power stations) could be used for swaps (virtual electricity storage) and arbitrage (spark spread and “reversed” spark spread).

Power-to-gas technologies could also produce hydrogen and synthetic methane that can be used as energy for those processes which are not suitable for electrification or as chemical feedstock. If the electricity fed into the power-to-gas transformation is renewable-based, this process will also contribute to the decarbonisation of the gas sector.

The Workshop will be structured in two sessions:

• Session 1 will review the power-to-gas technological landscape, identifying the potentials for the different technologies and their future economic viability.
• Session 2 will discuss how power-to-gas could enable sector coupling, and deliver benefits in terms of greater temporal and geographical flexibility of the energy system. The regulatory and market design implications of such developments will also be explored.

This workshop is exclusively open to national regulators, representatives from public bodies and associate & major donors of the FSR Energy area.

During the 7th Vienna Forum we will bring together representatives from EU institutions, academics, and representatives from regulatory authorities alongside members of industry, energy-focused law firms and consultancies to exchange knowledge and share practices on how to tackle the latest EU energy issues and explore the opportunities for integrated energy policies from both a legal and economic perspective.

Among the topics we will explore this year:

• The global energy transition
• The current state of the Energy Union and the legacy of the Juncker Commission
• The Legal Issues of Renewable Energy:
  • Auctioning systems
  • Contractual frameworks
  • Potential business models

• The private enforcement of environmental and climate law
• The legal aspects of the new energy world:
  • Self-consumption
  • Aggregation
  • Storage
  • Citizen energy communities

• Decarbonisation and energy security
• Security of Supply
  • Nord Stream and South Stream after the amendments to the Gas Directive
  • Ukraine’s future in the gas route
  • Cyber security
  • Critical infrastructure and foreign investors

The Vienna Forum on European Energy Law is a long-standing collaboration between the FSR Energy Union Law Area and the Energy Community Secretariat with the mission to bridge the gap in energy debate between the EU and Energy Community.

Each year, the initiative has continued to grow and build upon the successes of previous editions. This year will mark the 7^th year of the project.

For further information on the content of the forum, please contact the scientific organiser Anne-Marie Kehoe

To register for the forum, please contact Inga Prokofieva

Find more information in the Event’s Website

Finance is widely seen as an obstacle to a better world. In this online seminar, Prof. Dirk Schoenmaker (Erasmus University Rotterdam) will explain how the financial sector can be mobilised to counter this inevitability. As is documented in Prof. Schoenmaker’s recent book (D. Schoenmaker and W. Schramade, Principles of Sustainable Finance, Oxford University Press, 2019), using finance as a means to achieve social goals one can divert the planet and its economy from its current path to a world that is sustainable for all.
After describing the sustainability challenges, the seminar will show how investors and bankers can steer funding to sustainable companies and projects without sacrificing return and thus speed up the transition to a sustainable economy. Further, the seminar will analyse the Sustainable Development Goals as a strategy for a better world and will provide evidence that environmental, social, and governance factors matter, describing in detail how to incorporate these factors in the corporate and financial sectors.

Speakers:

Dirk Schoenmaker | Professor of Banking and Finance at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University

Kinanya Pijl | Researcher, European University Institute

Moderator:

Jean-Michel Glachant | Director, Florence School of Regulation

An open discussion will follow.

Register here

The Policy Advisory Council discusses the most topical regulatory and policy issues, as well as debating the relevance and robustness of the latest FSR research findings.

The meeting gathers renowned academics, experts from the FSR-Energy Major Donors, the European Commission, the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) and National Regulatory Authorities.

The Policy Advisory Council is structured as follows:

Day 1

• Session 1: New business models in the electricity sector
• Session 2: Flexibility procurement for distribution grids
• Session 3: The future of RES communities

 Day 2

• Session 1: Gas methane emissions
• Session 2: The FSR Gas Area contribution to sector coupling
• Session 3: FSR is Global: the journey so far and the road ahead

Please note the Policy Advisory Council is a closed event and participation is by invitation only.

The objective of this workshop “Management of Hydropower in the Energy Union” is to analyse and discuss the current state of hydropower regulation from the perspectives of national resource management, EU market design, and investor protection. It will consider recent domestic reforms in so far as these have been prompted by EU legal requirements.

National Resource Management, Market Regulation and Investor Protection

Hydropower will remain one of the most significant sources of electricity production from renewables in EU energy for the foreseeable future. But, do we have an adequate legal framework to realise its full potential to contribute to the EU’s ambitious climate change objectives?

Hydropower is a valuable natural resource with significant economic and strategic implications. Unsurprisingly, management of hydropower resources is subject to elaborate domestic licensing rules or concession regimes as compared to other renewable electricity generation technologies.

A 2015 report Regimes for granting the right to use hydropower in Europe by the Florence School of Regulation confirmed that licensing and concession systems, including aspects such as award procedures, license conditions and duration, vary widely across EU jurisdiction. In the meantime, several EU member states have taken some steps to reform their domestic regimes.

And, even if hydropower as a renewable and efficient energy source is in many respects well suited to achieve climate objectives, larger-scale projects are controversial. From a resource management perspective, major hydropower producing countries may be reluctant to expand existing dams and prefer to control power exports.

Among the confirmed speakers:

• Alberto Pototschnig, ACER
• Auke Lont, Statnett SF
• Angus Johnston, University of Oxford
• Per Håkon Høisveen, Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy
• Ivar Alvik, University of Oslo
• Marinella De Focatiis, Edison; AIDEN
• Henrik Bjørnebye, University of Oslo
• Guillaume Dezobry, FIDAL; Paris Dauphine University
• Jean-Michel Glachant, FSR (EUI)
• Christoffer Eriksen, University of Oslo
• Krístin Haraldsdottir, University of Reykjavik
• Leigh Hancher, FSR (EUI); Tilburg University

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The Geopolitics of Energy Transformation workshop will be structured in three sessions:

• Session 1 will focus on a presentation on the geopolitical implications of the global energy transformation driven by renewables.
• Session 2 will reflect on the issues and the structures of the global energy governance.
• Session 3 will discuss the impact of the changing geopolitics of energry in the EU, and discuss what should be the energy priorities of the next Commission to ensure that the EU harnesses benefits from its energy revolution, not the offshoring of energy intensive industry and a loss of competitiveness and jobs.

Among the confirmed speakers:

• Michael Bradshaw | Warwick Business School
• Stefan Moser | European Commission (DG Energy)
• Simone Mori | ENEL
• Nicolò Sartori | Istituto Affari Internazionali
• Daniel J. Scholten | Delft University of Technology

Download the programme

Background

The energy world is changing fast. New technological developments, rising energy demand and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to achieve the climate goals outlined in the Paris Agreement are the main trends in this change.

For a very long period energy geopolitics have been dominated by fossil fuel production and consumption, in particular oil. A good illustration of this is OPEC, the organisation of oil producers influencing the supply of oil to the global markets. For mostly consumer countries, it was oil stocks policy designed by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

In recent times we have seen huge change in this traditional pattern, with fracking technologies in the US undermining the power of OPEC and developments in LNG technologies combined with the growth of gas production across the globe, from Africa to Australia.

New technologies and consumer behaviour are revolutionising the way in which the energy is produced, transported and consumed. Renewable energy brings disruptive influence to the old global energy order. Traditional energy consuming countries now have the option, and the Paris imperative, to be producers, as wind and solar energy becomes competitive with fossil fuel technologies on its own merits.

With the growth of electric transport, and electrification to reduce carbon emissions, the market share of electricity in the final energy consumption is on the rise. Self-driving cars and cheaper electric vehicles will accelerate this, and the hydrogen economy is becoming a realistic option. The transition to the low carbon economy in digital era is opening up a wide range of new business possibilities.

The transition is happening in the backdrop of the expectation of strong and sustained growth in global prosperity; global GDP is expected to double by 2040, driven by fast growing developing economies. Even with strong energy efficiency policies in place this would require increased demand for energy supply.

Different studies indicate substantial impact of these changes in the energy sector to the growth and employment in different countries.

The Global Commission on the Geopolitics of Energy Transformation initiated by International Renewable Energy Agency’s (IRENA’s) Director-General Adnan Z. Amin has produced a Report analysing the geopolitical implications the global energy transformation. The Report highlights the vital need to prepare proactively for the new energy age and its geopolitical consequences.

Responding to this call the workshop will focus on the opportunities, risks and initiatives to be taken for the EU in the era of the energy transformation.

Interested in this topics? Read more on IRENA’s New Report: A New World: The Geopolitics of the Energy Transformation