This workshop is organised in collaboration with DG CLIMA of the European Commission, within the framework of the LIFE SIDE project. The project, started on 1 September 2016, aims to support policymakers with the implementation of the EU ETS. 

Go to the workshop web page (with speakers video highlights) 

The LIFE SIDE project is co-financed by the LIFE Programme of the European Commission.

This workshop is organised in collaboration with DG CLIMA of the European Commission, within the framework of the LIFE SIDE project. The project, started on 1 September 2016, aims to support policymakers with the implementation of the EU ETS. 

Go to the workshop web page (with speakers video highlights) 

The LIFE SIDE project is co-financed by the LIFE Programme of the European Commission

 In light of the EU 2030 energy and climate targets, what is the future role of DSOs and TSOs in EU infrastructure policy? Why and how to invest in trans-European energy networks?

Join us online to discuss the EU Regulation on Trans-European Energy Networks, the Connecting Europe Facility, and the Winter Package

Expert panel

• Catharina Sikow-Magny (Head of Unit, European Commission)
• Dennis Hesseling (Head of Gas Department, Agency for Coordination of Energy Regulators)

Moderator

• Leonardo Meeus (FSR & Vlerick)

Watch the recording!

The Policy Advisory Council gathers renowned academics, experts from leading energy companies (being also FSR-Energy Major Donors) as well as representatives from the European Commission, the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) and National Regulatory Authorities to discuss and test the relevance and robustness of FSR research.

This year the Florence School is experimenting new interactive formats to enable and facilitate the debate and brainstorming among participants and FSR discussants.

The event will be divided in two sessions, as follows:

• Session I:The Electricity Network Codes
• Session II: EU Gas Market Design: a Mission Accomplished?

Please note that this is a closed event and participation is by invitation only.

Interactive webinar on: Public Consultation on Recommendable Updates for Gas CBA 2.0

with

• Sébastien Douguet (Microeconomix – Deloitte)
• Nico Keyaerts (Florence School of Regulation)

Watch the Recording

Download the slides

Florence School of Regulation and Deloitte are conducting a public consultation on their ongoing “study on recommendable updates and improvements of the energy system-wide cost-benefit analysis for gas (CBA)” that is being carried out for the European Commission.

 The study has three objectives:

1. identify key areas in which ENTSOG’s 2015 CBA methodology for gas infrastructure projects can be improved
2. propose updates, considering both the positive impact on the methodology and the efforts for ENTSOG to implement them.
3. survey the stakeholders on the proposed updates

From 1 to 24 March we invite the stakeholders to comment on and react to the general and specific recommendations that are presented in the draft report that you can download here.

The Inaugural Board Meeting of the new Journal “Competition and Regulation in Network Industries” edited by Sage will take place at the European University Institute in Florence on June 16th, 2017. The meeting will follow the 6th Conference on the Regulation of Infrastructures, which becomes the annual conference of the Journal as of this year.   Continue reading “Inaugural Board Meeting: SAGE Journal ‘Competition and Regulation in Network Industries’”

The Vienna Forum on European Energy Law is an annual joint initiative of the FSR Energy Law and Policy Area and the Energy Community Secretariat. The forum is designed to promote discussion on the most challenging energy issues currently facing the EU Member States and the countries of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe from both a legal and economic perspective, while also critically examining the opportunities that integration with the EU energy market presents.  

The initiative intends to bring together representatives from EU institutions, academics, and representatives from regulatory authorities alongside industry members and energy-focused law firms and consultancies.

This year, the event will open with an evening reception on 4th May at the Consitutional Court, Vienna, with a high-level debate on energy and geopolitics. 

This will be followed by a full day of discussion on 5th May at the Supreme Court, Vienna, which will include issues such as the Commission’s new energy market design, the renewable and energy efficiency package, market integration and market governance, and cyber security and the possible threats it poses to the security of supply.

Download the presentations here

Download the Programme

For further information on the Forum, please visit the website

Participation Fee: €250

Please note, FSR Energy and FSR Energy Law Donors are exempt from the fee, as are invited representatives of Energy Community Contracting Parties (upon confirmation with the Energy Community Secretariat) 

Do mature RES-E technologies still need dedicated support towards 2030?

Join the FSR Online Debate with:

Moderator

• Jean-Michel Glachant, Florence School of Regulation

Panel

• Clemens Cremer, EnBW
• Fabio Genoese, Tractebel
• Anne Held, Fraunhofer ISI
• Mario Ragwitz, Fraunhofer ISI, University of Freiburg, FSR
• Koen Noyens, Eurelectric

Renewable energies are no more a marginal component of the electricity mix in Europe. In the last decade, effective supporting schemes have promoted a wide deployment of power plants exploiting wind, sun and biomass energy, contributing to the reduction of carbon emissions and to the development of new business opportunities within the EU borders.

Such policies have been so successful that some of these technologies have now costs that are comparable to that of other conventional ways of generating power. However, the price paid by energy consumers is not negligible at all and the proper functioning of the internal market for electricity is a challenge.

A strong debate is now going on at the European level, whether dedicated support for mature renewable technologies should continue or not after 2020, especially in the light of the current overcapacity affecting many EU power systems and the possible critical overlapping with the other traditional pillar of the EU climate policy, i.e. the ETS. On the other hand efficient financing schemes for renewables can be an important pillar to reduce the capital costs for decarbonisation of the European power system.

The Clean Energy Package proposed by the European Commission last year makes the topic even more relevant, since the EU will decide and shape in the next months the details of its energy and climate policy for the decade between 2020 and 2030.

This online debate will analyse the main issues on the table:

1. do almost mature RES technologies still need support?
2. are financing schemes for RES in the power sector the most efficient and effective way to further the decarbonisation goal set out by the EU?
3. are dedicated schemes for RES compatible with the pricing of carbon provided by the ETS or should the latter be reformed once again?
4. in which way should the support measures be designed in order to minimise the costs for the consumers and the society as a whole?

Interested in this topic? Learn more on our Training Course on the Regulation and Integration of Renewable Energy

Energy Law & Policy Workshop

While the terms of the UK’s departure from the EU remain to be seen, the possible realities of Brexit are beginning to unfold.

With an EU Energy Union determinedly focused on harmonisation and deeper integration across Member States, unravelling the EU’s ties with the UK presents considerable challenges in uncharted territory. To date, the UK has played a significant role in influencing the EU’s energy policies and has been at the forefront of liberalisation initiatives. 

• How might the EU redefine its energy agenda without the UK? Furthermore, with everything to play for, how will a self-determined UK establish itself in the energy market?

This workshop will focus on the complex issues Brexit poses from both a legal and economic perspective, and examine what may happen in the interim period, across three themes.

Session I │ The Impact on the UK Energy Market

This session will consider the impact it will have on the market, especially in areas such as electricity and gas trading, interconnectors, nuclear and RES policies, and how these will be navigated in the transition period.

*Access the slides from the session by clicking on the speaker below

Michael Pollitt 

Gordon Downie 

Angela Hepworth

Clara Semal 

Paul Hallas 

Session II │ The Impact on the EU Energy Market

This session will look at the Winter Package and the UK’s Electricity Market Reform policy and consider how the priorities of the EU and the UK may differ. How will the UK’s exit affect market integration initiatives, such as market coupling, cross-border capacity mechanisms, and the development of network codes? From a policy perspective, what will happen to environmental and nuclear policies? What will be the impact upon the EU ETS?

*Access the slides from the session by clicking on the speaker below

Lawrence Slade

Kai Uwe Pritzsche 

Anouk Honore 

Fabien Roques 

Luca Taschini 

Wolfram Vogel 

Session III │ The Impact on Competition Law and Policy and Enforcement

This session will examine the effects of Brexit on competition and State aid enforcement. Outside of the EU’s control, what kind of industrial policies and State aid measures might the UK pursue? What will be the impact on energy disputes and arbitration? Will the English courts be more or less attractive for arbitration? And what will happen in the interim period?

*Access the slides from the session by clicking on the speaker below

Ali Nikpay

Johannes Koepp 

Lorenzo Coppi 

Peter Willis 

Matthew Levitt 

For the complete set of slides see here

Download the Programme 

Register here

Energy Law & Policy Workshop

This workshop is designed to assess the current legal issues surrounding the enforcement of EU antitrust rules and the changing role of governance in the energy sector in light of the Clean Energy Package.

The workshop will open with a keynote address from Vice-President of the European Commission and head of the Energy Union, Maroš Šefčovič, on the Commission’s new market design proposals and the impact of the Energy Union at EU and Member State level. 

Focus will then turn to the role of competition in the energy transition, examining the impending challenges of big data and price comparison websites, retail price controls, and reviewing recent case law at the CJEU. This will be followed by a study of governance in the energy sector, assessing the Commission’s new governance proposals, centralised and decentralised competition enforcement and, in particular, the role of Regional Operational Centres and its implications from an economic, legal, and regulatory perspective.

Click here to download the presentations

Download the programme

Register by 10 April 2017

Register here

FSR Regulatory Policy Workshop Series 2016-2017

Since the 1980s, an increasing level of automation has been introduced to support a reliable and secure energy system, as well as to guarantee a certain level of efficiency. This tendency has recently increased and digital technologies have been used to support greater efficiency, to provide more choice to consumers, to empower them in the liberalised market, and to better support other developments – such as the penetration of renewable-based generation and e-mobility. At the same time, in the Digital Age, energy has become essential to enable a secure and safe transition of activities to the digital world and, in the EU, to implement the Digital Agenda and promote a well-functioning Digital Single Market. The energy infrastructures are therefore not only essential to support energy transmission and supply, but also to support digital technologies.

As energy, information and communication technologies are essential to each other; a more careful protection of critical energy infrastructures has become a key objective. The energy system includes different segments – generation/production, transportation and delivery – as well as a set of processes and the interconnected communication devices that monitor and control such procedures. All components exchange information which is needed to run daily operations. They also include control systems that operate and monitor the energy infrastructure – such as the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. Some energy systems designed in the past have to be protected from the security threats and risks posed by the integration of advances in computers and communication, as off-the-shelf software and operating systems, public telecommunication networks, and the Internet.

Cybersecurity was approached at the European level in 2016, as a reaction of the first significant cyber-attack on civil infrastructure occurred in Ukraine in December 2015. In July 2016 the Directive on security of network and information systems (the NIS Directive) was adopted, providing legal measures to increase the overall level of cybersecurity in the EU and enhancing the reliability of the energy systems. On 30 November 2016, the European Commission unveiled a package of measures – “Clean Energy for all Europeans” – to keep the European Union competitive as the clean energy transition is changing global energy markets. The proposed legislation envisages also the development of a Cybersecurity Network Code.

The Workshop aims at reviewing the current state of thinking on cybersecurity in the context of the energy sector and its critical and non-critical infrastructure. It will Identify the main emerging and critical risks and how they may be addressed, taking into consideration market constraints as well as the recent NIS Directive and the European Commission’s legislative proposals “Clean Energy for all Europeans”.

Download the programme

Register here

THIS WORKSHOP IS EXCLUSIVELY OPEN TO NATIONAL REGULATORS, REPRESENTATIVES FROM PUBLIC BODIES AND FSR DONORS.

Special registration requests must be submitted to the coordinator of the workshop, Ilaria Bellacci.

TSO-DSO coordination for electricity system balancing and congestion management

Interactive online webinar in collaboration with the SmartNet Project. Moderated by Leonardo Meeus (Vlerick Business School, FSR).

Academic panel:

• Tomas Gomez (Comillas University)
• Gianluigi Migliavacca (Smartnet Project coordinator)
• Marco Rossi (Smartnet Project)

The moderator will give an introduction on the topic and will address some polls to the online audience. The speakers will then give their view, also reacting to the opinion expressed by the attendees. An open Q&A session will follow.

Download the slides

About the SmartNet Project

The European Commission founded SmartNet Project aims to provide optimised instruments and modalities to improve the coordination between the grid operators at national and local level (respectively the TSOs and DSOs) and the exchange of information for monitoring and for the acquisition of ancillary services (reserve and balancing, voltage balancing control, congestion management) from subjects located in the distribution segment (flexible load and distributed generation).