FSR is pleased to contribute to the development of the next generation of researchers in Europe by launching a 2-day Young Researcher Seminar hosted in Florence, covering the following two topics:

• Electricity Market Design (Day 1);
• Electricity Grid Regulation (Day 2).

The mornings will be dedicated to a panel debate and in the afternoons the selected researchers will have the chance to present their papers and receive feedback from the Scientific Committee:

Scientific Committee Members:

• Jean-Michel Glachant | Florence School of Regulation
• Leonardo Meeus | Vlerick Business School and Florence School of Regulation

Panel Debate Members:

• Christophe Gence-Creux | Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER)
• Konrad Purchala | Polish Transmission System Operator (PSE S.A.)
• Fabien Roques | FTI Consulting & University Paris-Dauphine
• Luca lo Schiavo | Autorità per l’Energia Elettrica il Gas e il Sistema Idrico (AEEGSI)
• Joe Perkins | Chief Economist Ofgem

Call for Papers

For the first time the Florence School of Regulation is calling for papers on Electricity Market Design and Electricity Grids Regulation written by young researchers.

Download the Draft Programme

The Florence School of Regulation, together with Bruegel and Fondazione ENI Enrico Mattei, is jointly organising the exclusive Workshop: ‘Challenges for EU Regulators in the Age of Decarbonisation and Digitalization’ taking place in Florence on Thursday 2 February 2017.

The ongoing decarbonisation of the energy system has not only led to an energy mix that is increasingly integrating renewable energy sources;  but it has also initiated a decentralisation process that brought the individual customer at the centre of this transition and enabled his or her participation in the business’s digitalization.

The event will therefore explore the latest challenges faced by regulatory authorities at the national and EU level, as well as by the transmission and distribution system operators.

These different perspectives are analysed in the three Sessions of the workshop:

• Session I: The EU Regulators Perspective

Cross-sectoral and cross-authority cooperation in the digital world. How important is it, and how will it work in the case of issues around smart meters in energy, the internet of things, data privacy, and data protection?

• Session II: The DSOs Perspective

What is a digital DSO for you? What does it imply in terms of organizational change, business model innovation, and data governance? What about collaboration with TSOs?

• Session III: The TSOs Perspective

What is a digital TSO for you? What does it imply in terms of organizational change, business model innovation, and data governance? What about collaboration with DSOs?

Read the Workshop Highlights (PDF)

This workshop was organised in collaboration with DG Climate Action of the European Commission and within the framework of the LIFE SIDE project. The project, started on 1 September and  funded under the LIFE Programme, aims to support policymakers on the implementation of the EU ETS. 

 
Go to the workshop web page.

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

Important changes are now affecting the distribution side of power systems. Emerging distributed technologies—including flexible demand, distributed generation, energy storage, power electronics and control devices—are creating new options for the provision and consumption of electricity services. At the same time, information and communications technologies are becoming ubiquitous, enabling more flexible and efficient consumption of electricity, improved visibility of network use, and enhanced control of power systems.

The Utility of the Future study presents a framework for proactive regulatory, policy, and market reforms designed to enable the efficient evolution of power systems over the next decade and beyond.

The goal is to facilitate the integration of all resources, be they distributed or centralised, that contribute to the efficient provision of electricity services and other public objectives. This framework includes a comprehensive and efficient system of market-determined prices and regulated charges for electricity services that reflect, as accurately as possible, the marginal or incremental cost of providing these services; improved incentives for distribution utilities that reward cost savings, performance improvements, and long-term innovation; reevaluation of the power sector’s structure to minimise conflicts of interest; and recommendations for the improvement of wholesale electricity markets. This study also offers a set of insights about the roles and values of distributed energy resources, and the factors most likely to determine the portfolio of cost-effective resources, both centralised and distributed, in diverse contexts and regulatory regimes, but focus mainly on United States and Europe.

The study team from MIT and IIT-Comillas combines a range of skills in quantitative economic and engineering modeling, with a deep understanding of the complex interactions in the electric power industry.

The team includes faculty with decades of experience in advising governments, corporations, and institutions on regulation and market design. The consortium partners — industrial and other market participants — bring valuable real-world expertise and experience to the study.

Meeting Agenda

• 8:30 – 9:00 am  Registration and Continental breakfast
• 9:00 – 9:10 am Welcome and introduction
• 9:10 – 10:00 am Overview of the study
• 10:00 – 10:30 am Panel discussion and Q&A Session

Register here

Please note that this event is closed to members of the media

From patchwork to a well-functioning and socially fair EU road transport market.

The EU single market for road transport has established harmonised rules in several areas such as access to the profession and market, working and driving time, and rest periods. Also, it has led to more efficient and customer-oriented transport services and safer operations.

However, the sector is suffering from some major imperfections. Some hauliers make use of “letterbox” companies to circumvent labour laws of the country they are actually primarily operating in. Often drivers are paid under the labour laws of a given country, despite spending the majority of their time in other countries. The definition and application of the condition of “posted worker” are rarely recognised and even less enforced. Protection of workers is essential. However, uncoordinated national initiatives to protect national workers (e.g. minimum wage laws, prohibition for drivers to have their regular weekly rest in the cabin of the vehicle) fragment the international road transport market.

International transport operations have been fully liberalised in the EU, yet the market is not operating efficiently because restrictions remain on cabotage operations. Member States interpret these restrictions differently and sometimes try to limit operations by foreign hauliers. Above all, EU rules can only be effective if their enforcement is guaranteed in all Member States – which is not the case at present.

How can these imperfections on the market side as well as on the social side be overcome?

The Florence Road Forum will take stock of existing initiatives and look at new approaches to solve some of the most pressing issues in the European road transport market. Following the usual format of the Florence Transport Forums, in each session speakers and participants will have the chance to contribute to the discussion moderated by Prof Matthias Finger (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne and European University Institute). Representatives of the European Commission, of major stakeholders as well as leading academics will engage in the discussion. Discussions will address four central questions:

• How can the problem of “letterbox firms” in the road sector be tackled effectively?
• How to ensure proper enforcement of EU labour rules in the road sector?
• How can cabotage rules be made clearer and easier to enforce, so that the same rules apply across the EU?
• How to balance the free market and the protection of social rights of workers in the sector?

DOWNLOAD

Final Programme

European Transport Regulation Observer

Summary of the presentations

Pictures  of the Event

RELATED PRESENTATIONS

Introduction to the Road Transport Forum MATTHIAS FINGER,  Part-time Professor & Director of the Transport Area, Florence School of Regulation/EUI; and Professor, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

How can the problem of “letterbox firms” in the road sector be tackled effectively? MYRIAM JANS, Manager European Affairs Dutch Association Transport and Logistics (TLN)

How can the problem of “letterbox firms” in the road sector be tackled effectively? JAN NEMEC, General Delegate ad interim IRU Permanent Delegation to the EU

How to ensure proper enforcement of EU labour rules in the road sector? GERARD SCHIPPER, ECR general delegate

New cabotage rules A real need for an international transport sector? JOANNA JASIEWICZ, Transport and Logistics Poland / Gide law firm

Clear and Effective Cabotage – the UK approach ELIZABETH SHOVELTON, Head of Operator Licensing and Roadworthiness, Department for Transport (UK)

How to balance the free market and the protection of social rights of workers in the sector? DIRK SAILE,  Head Brussels Office, German Road Haulage Association

The impending new energy market design is expected to recalibrate the current power structures of the energy sector, both in the responsibilities assigned to the various governing bodies, and how these structures interact with each other at national, regional and European level.

With myriad developments and challenges on the horizon, this inter-disciplinary conference aims to address the mechanisms of EU energy governance from a theoretical and practical perspective, examining the role of these regulatory frameworks, how they are established, and their impact on the sector.

Scientific and Organising Committee:

Liana Cozigou (CREG), Adrien de Hauteclocque (ECJ/FSR, EUI), Gaspard Demur (European Commission), Marie-Pierre Fauconnier (CREG), Hélène Gassin (CEER/CRE), Annegret Groebel (ACER/BNetzA), Frederik Vandendriessche (UGent), Arnaud Van Waeyenberge (HEC Paris/ULB), Koen Verhoest (UA)

The following is a non-exhaustive list of potential subjects:

• Legitimacy of European Agencies to act as a market regulator (i.e. which tasks can be given to ACER without infringing the subsidiarity principle and which safeguards must be put in place?);
• Independence of ACER vis-à-vis the European Commission (and how to guarantee it);
• Governance standards that should be applied;
• Legal mechanisms to ensure the transparency of decision-making processes;
• Control processes that could be implemented in such a new framework;
• Decision-making of ACER and the democratic framework;
• Adequate regulation and the protection of consumers;
• Decentralisation of generation and the role of local authorities;
• The Energy Union project and the existing multi-level energy governance framework (including inter-governmental agreements);
• Governance devices for cooperation at sub-Union level: new trends in regionalisation;
• Formal and de facto interactions between ACER and the national regulatory agencies;
• Cooperation and co-decision of EU national regulators;
• Energy legislation, network codes and comitology;
• Litigating energy regulation at national and EU level;
• Governing the new energy/ finance interface: enforcing REMIT;
• The new role of Power Exchanges;

Read the Call for Papers

All those interested in participating in this conference are invited to send an abstract (max. 500 words) to Liana Cozigou (Liana.Cozigou@creg.be) by 10th December 2016. All contributors will be promptly informed of the selection decision. Selected authors will be invited to submit their paper (max 8000 words) by the end of February 2016.

Selected papers will be published.

For additional information, please contact Liana Cozigou.

The world around us is moving online: whether leisure activities, news and information, whether communication with friends, contributions to public debates or the purchase of goods: most of our life takes place online. The question is whether this trend also concerns academic practice.

• What are the benefits and opportunities for Higher Education Institutions to (also) move online? At best, many academics still consider online tools a well-intentioned toy; but even if a move online is considered to be an opportunity for research and teaching, individual efforts often remain isolated or fragmented.
• What is the rational for Higher Education Institutions to incorporate a comprehensive digital agenda into their core strategy, and – perhaps even more importantly – how can we concretely achieve a large-scale ‘online move’ within our institutions?

To begin, this workshop will explore how different online tools (social media tools and online learning) have already entered academic practice. Secondly, we will explore the benefits these online tools and environments offer researchers and institutions to create and share knowledge, especially given their interactive, instantaneous, accessible and open characteristics. Finally, we will present several case studies, focusing on how the process of moving larger projects online can be practically achieved within traditional academic institutions.

Watch the Event Recording

#HEonline Tweets

Aspects of Electric Vehicles Charging | Perspectives from the FSR Policy Workshop

FSR Regulatory Policy Workshop Series 2016-2017

In recent years, the EU has strengthen its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, aiming to a 40% GHG decrease by 2030 (with respect to 1990 levels) and a 90-95% cut by 2050.

Despite past technological improvements, the transport sector is still responsible for around one-quarter of Europe’s GHG emissions. Furthermore, the EU Road transport is accountable for more than 70% of all GHG emissions from transport – and also contributes to the increased concentration of air pollutants (such as NOX and PM) in several European cities. In 2011, the European Commission had already outlined a roadmap to reduced GHG emissions in the transport sector (as part of the Transport White Paper) and, in 2016, adopted a new low-emission mobility strategy, to ensure Europe stays competitive and able to respond to the changing mobility needs.

Electric vehicles are an important contributor towards a more sustainable EU transport system.

Electric cars, and their batteries, may also represent a valuable source of flexibility to support the growing decarbonisation of Europe’s electricity sector. Although electric vehicle ownership is expanding (as is the need for widely distributed and publicly accessible charging stations), current practices can potentially create barriers and delay electric vehicle penetration. Fast plug-in charging requires specialised infrastructure and electric vehicles manufacturers have not yet converged onto a standard charging technology. The consequent lack of a common standard may result in (inefficient) parallel charging networks and in barriers to new entrants, unless they are able to use the network of the incumbent manufacturer(s).

Furthermore, competition concerns related to the supply of electricity for charging electric vehicles might arise. It is not yet clear whether electric vehicle charging stations should be considered as part of the (distribution) grid to which they are connected (and therefore subject to third-party access requirements), or if they should be considered as consumer sites.

The workshop, jointly organised by the Energy and Transport Areas of the FSR, will therefore attempt to define the extent to which charging technology would need to be standardised in order to promote electric vehicle penetration as well as which regulatory access regime and optimal business model should be applied to charging stations.

This workshop is exclusively open to national regulators, representatives from public bodies and FSR donors.

What market design for a decarbonised electricity market?

#marketdesign2050

How will the European electricity market develop and function in the future? This is a key question for all stakeholders of the European energy system: energy companies, consumers, policy makers, academics and energy regulators.

The European energy system is facing profound changes whilst it transitions to a decarbonised power system and it leaves behind its heritage of large-scale fossil-fuelled generation units and passive consumers.

Nowadays stakeholders are confronted with the deployment of decentralised renewable generation which progressively reduces the sector’s carbon footprint, and the empowering of the energy customer through demand response and storage solutions.

The structure of the electricity market will not only have to adapt to these changes but try to anticipate them and be prepared to conceive and adopt innovative business models.

The Florence School of Regulation in partnership with EURELECTRIC is seeking to open the debate and gather innovative visions for the functioning of a decarbonised electricity market.

Following our call for contributions, we invite you to save in your agenda the date of 7 June 2017. After a plenary session, the best contributors will be invited to present their work in interactive workshops organised by theme. The main points of the discussions will then be summed up after lunch by experts of the industry and the institutions.

Download the programme

Read more and register here

The Florence School of Regulation is partnering with ENTSO-E in organizing the 2016 Annual Conference, on 8^th December in Brussels.

The event aims to investigate the next steps of the Energy Union, comparing the visions and the real implementation of market design, the future of smart cities, the infrastructure implementation challenge and regional cooperation. It also raises the question: what’s in it for the customer?

Despite the political uncertainty experienced in the current post-Brexit scenario, European citizens still want to see the Energy Union delivered. It is the citizen, and the customer, who is on the move in Europe’s energy landscape. But what does this change look like? What should be expected? How can the sustainability be delivered while maintaining the market in power?

The Conference on the Regulation of Infrastructures is the annual event that brings together all the Areas of the Florence School of Regulation. This 6th edition aimed at taking stock of the major challenges infrastructure regulation is currently facing in the context of smart cities.

Continue reading “6th Conference on the Regulation of Infrastructures: Challenges for smart cities”

At the conclusion of our training on State aid in the Energy Sector, there will be a special open lecture from William Scherman, partner at the Washington D.C offices of Gibson Dunn LLP, in which he will examine the role of transmission system operators (TSOs) in the US, what lessons can be learned from these experiences and how these can be applied in the EU.”

Register here