FSR talk with ACER

On February 10, 2021 Riccardo Galletta and Juan Lopez of ACER will join Ilaria Conti and Jean-Michel Glachant of the FSR to discuss the issue of regulating hydrogen networks in the EU.

Publication of the EU Commission’s Hydrogen Strategy on 8 July 2020 marked a fundamental step and provided a clear direction for the evolution of the EU energy system, particularly for the decarbonisation of the gas sector. As part of these efforts, The Council of the EU indicated that as much as 30-70% of all gas used in the EU could be greened by 2050.

Reaching the ambitious energy and climate targets the EU is committed to will require a swift and comprehensive overhaul of the European energy system, including in the use of gas infrastructure.

The transition from fossil gas to renewable gases over the coming years is foreseen to be gradual, both in terms of the speed in which fossil gases are phased out in absolute terms, as well as changes in the chemical make-up of the gas consumed in the meantime. Transporting a combination of blended and pure gases raises questions about the suitability of existing gas transportation infrastructure as well as the issue of harmonising regulations between the Member States.

Currently, network infrastructure for the transport of pure hydrogen is not covered by the Gas Directive 2009/73/EC, whilst hydrogen infrastructure and markets at the national level are also relatively undeveloped by comparison to electricity and gas networks.

The debate will revolve around the recently published joint ACER-CEER White Paper on the regulation of hydrogen markets, prepared to assist the European Commission in assessing options for a legislative package on hydrogen and energy system integration. Juan Lopez will also present the findings of a recent ACER survey of national regulatory authorities (NRA’s) concerning the technical ability of the gas transportation system to accept blended gasses.

Topics for discussion will include:

• The circumstances under which regulating hydrogen networks is needed;
• How to treat existing hydrogen network infrastructure;
• How to address regulatory challenges related to the repurposing of gas infrastructure for dedicated hydrogen transport;
• Current limits for the blending of hydrogen into the gas flow in gas transmission networks and at cross-border interconnection points;
• Foreseen national hydrogen blending targets and hydrogen strategies, if any;
• Views on the need to have a European-wide, regional or national approach to H2 blending limits and projects.

Speakers:

Riccardo Galletta & Juan Lopez of ACER

Discussant:

Jean-Michel Glachant and Ilaria Conti of FSR Energy and Climate

Participants will have a chance to intervene directly in our online Q&A.

Access is completely free, upon registration.

Find more from ACER

How can hydrogen support the European Green Deal?

#FSRTalks 

FSR talks is a series of live interviews with experts from the wider network of the school to showcase and discuss a recent work (a book just published, interesting study, innovative project) in a light and interactive way.

FSR Talk with Prof. Nicolas Petit, EUI

We all see that Big Tech companies and platforms – notably the American Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, etc – have built powerful positions from which they never stop expanding. Netflix is another blatant demonstration. It begs the questions:

• Will Education, Health, even Public Government routine (as car registration & monitoring for road conduct enforcement) follow the same way to ‘’Moligopoly’’?
• Is this consequential for the rest of the economy and society? And why?
• What could be done to get it better or safer?

Watch the recording

FSR Talk with Christopher Kardish and FSR Climate

This FSR Talk aims to present the International Carbon Action Partnership’s report “Carbon Leakage and Deep Decarbonization: Future-proofing Carbon Leakage Protection” through a conversation with one of the authors, Christopher Kardish.

The report published in June 2020 provides a review of current efforts to assess the risk of carbon leakage and address it with relevant policies to strengthen decarbonization efforts in light of net-zero emissions targets. While more and more countries pledge to decarbonize by mid-century (EU, USA, Japan, and South Korea) or by 2060 (China), the implications of future climate regulation on industry competitiveness should be evaluated, and the tools to combat carbon leakage could be assessed and eventually aligned across jurisdictions.

Christopher Kardish is a Carbon Markets Advisor at International Carbon Action Partnership and adelphi, specialised in emissions trading, market mechanisms, and climate finance. He analyses emissions trading systems (ETSs) for the Secretariat of the International Carbon Action Partnership (ICAP), as well as contributing to its research papers, technical dialogue, and knowledge sharing activities.

In this event hosted by Jean-Michel Glachant, Simone Borghesi and the FSR Climate team will discuss with Christopher Kardish the main findings of the above-mentioned report. 

Read the report:

Carbon Leakage and Deep Decarbonization: Future-proofing Carbon Leakage Protection, ICAP, 2020

Learn more:

Achieving zero emissions under a cap-and-trade system,  FSR Climate & ICAP, 2020

The impact of the EU emissions trading system on competitiveness and carbon leakage, S. Verde

#FSRTalks 

FSR talks is a series of live interviews with experts from the wider network of the school to showcase and discuss a recent work (a book just published, interesting study, innovative project) in a light and interactive way.

Hosted by: Prof. Jean-Michel Glachant, Ilaria Conti, Swetha Baghwat

FSR Talk with IEA

with Gergely Molnar and Sylvia Beyer, IEA

Hosted by Ilaria Conti, FSR Gas and Jean-Michel Glachant, FSR Director

In its recently published Global Gas Security Review 2020, the International Energy Agency estimates a fall in global gas by 3% or 120 billion cubic metres (bcm) – its largest drop on record. Faced with a historic fall in global gas demand in the first half of the year, gas producers and exporters have had to provide flexibility to adjust supply. LNG was one of the key enablers of this adjustment, with monthly global exports decreasing by 17% between January and July.

“Without the flexibility of global LNG supply, the adjustment to the 2020 demand shock would have been less orderly, and could potentially have had a damaging effect on the commercial and contractual structures underpinning global gas trade” says the IEA report.

At the same time, in Europe, the strong commitment towards decarbonisation and the initiatives undertaken to achieve a net-zero economy in 2050 are re-shaping the EU gas market – the traditional security of supply provider – with profound changes expected in the next few years at infrastructure, market and governance levels.

On the other hand, security of supply and flexibility are also to be provided via the electricity markets, even more in an increasingly electrified and integrated European energy system. Indeed, the IEA has just published its Report on Power Systems in Energy Transition.

How will energy security and flexibility be guaranteed in the future Energy Integrated System? Will LNG become the ultimate provider of security of supply?

Watch the recording:

#FSRTalks 

FSR talks is a series of live interviews with experts from the wider network of the school to showcase and discuss a recent work (a book just published, interesting study, innovative project) in a light and interactive way.

Hosted by: Prof. Jean-Michel Glachant, Ilaria Conti, Swetha Baghwat

As the global share of renewable energy generation continues to increase, transition planning is required to ensure that fossil fuel dependent regions and workers are not stranded by the energy transition or by climate change policy. FSR Talks invites leading experts to discuss possible pathways towards a sustainable, low carbon and equitable energy system which is better for people and the environment. Given the high levels of poverty and growing unemployment in the developing world, energy and climate policy must contribute to a development pathway that addresses these socio-economic challenges.  The discussion will highlight various elements of a just energy transition on universal access to affordable and clean energy, corporate and business reform, the shift in ownership of energy, empowerment of workers and communities and environmental restoration.

The topic of the debate is ‘Just Energy Transition: What and how to go about it?’. How different are the transition journeys in the developed and developing world?

Watch the recording:

In this FSR Talks, Swetha Bhagwat, Head of FSR Global will interview Rohit Chandra, Asst. Prof at IIT Delhi and Visiting Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, who will present based on his work over the last decade on coal sector reforms and the socio-political challenges around the just energy transition in India. Challenging him would be three experts – Jesse Burton from University of Cape Town bringing in views from the South African context, followed by Johan van den Berg, Head of the Secretariat of Africa-EU Energy Partnership from the African context and Jean-Michel Glachant, Director of the Florence School of Regulation from the European context.

A Q&A will take place with the audience after the debate, you may also submit your questions in advance in the registration form.

The event will take place on Zoom and it will be live streamed on our social media channels.

FSR talk: the future of electricity utilities

In the first online event of the series, the FSR Director, Jean-Michel Glachant will interview Ahmad Faruqui, Principal at Brattle Group in San Francisco.

Watch the recording

Dr. Faruqui has over 40 years of experience working on issues related to customer engagement, including rate design, load flexibility, distributed energy resources, demand forecasting, and electrification.

The topic of this debate is “The Future of Utilities”. Challenged by decentralized energy resources and storage, plus smarter consumption management via advanced digitalization, what businesses are to replace GrandMa “Integrated Utility’?

Ahmad will set the tune from the US. Clara Poletti (Italian regulator) will question Ahmad from the EU landscape. Stephen Littlechild (founding father of western retail competition) from a non-EU landscape (UK, Canada, New-Zealand, Australia). Swetha Bhagwat (Head of FSR Global) from the Indian and non-Western World.

A Q&A with the audience will take place after the interview. You may submit questions in advance in the registration form.

The event will take place on Zoom and it will be live-streamed on our social media channels.

#FSRTalks

Launching in September 2020, the #FSRTalks series will cover a wide range of topics to meet the changing needs of the energy sector and the interests of our audience, across cutting-edge research, regulatory debate, and policy dialogue.

Our hosts,  Jean-Michel Glachant, Ilaria Conti, Swetha Baghwat, will conduct live interviews with experts from the wider network of the school to showcase and discuss a recent work (a book just published, interesting study, innovative project) in an interactive way.

More about our online series

The Florence School of Regulation is launching four new series that will take our online events to the next level, improving their accessibility and the quality of your experience: FSR talks, FSR insights, FSR conversations, and FSR debates.

From September 2020, every Wednesday 

All the events will be freely accessible upon registration. The events will take place on Zoom and on our social media channels. The recording and presentations will always be made available.