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

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.

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.

Biogas, biomethane, hydrogen and other “green gases” are increasingly being discussed as a part of the long-term EU decarbonisation strategy and as enablers energy transition.

The intermittent nature of renewable electricity production and the ambition to reach a share of 50% or above of wind and solar in the EU generation mix by 2030 invite reflection on the role of conventional natural gas in power in the short-to-medium term. Further, natural gas today plays a major role in industry and the residential heating sector.

Recent energy-related protests have underlined the importance of ensuring that the EU’s decarbonisation strategy is accompanied by public acceptance, and a great deal of public acceptance will be determined by the affordability of energy for citizens.

Despite the adoption of Paris Agreement and very recently the Katowice Rulebook, the IEA expects that oil, gas, shale gas and coal will continue to provide a great share of the global energy supply. Moreover, in several non-EU countries the consumption of conventional fuels, including natural gas, is foreseen to increase in the next years. IEA scenarios for Europe also see some continuing role for fossil fuels (see IEA World Energy Outlook 2018).

To what extent can we discuss the role and long-term prospects for conventional gas in this context? What should the next Commission do in order to ensure the EU decarbonisation strategy is carried out in a cost-effective way? Which problems should the Gas Market Design address and how should it address them?

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• Christopher Jones | FSR
• Ilaria Conti | FSR
• Eva Hennig | Eurogas
• Anne Sophie Courbeau | BP
• Lisa Fischer | E3G
• Torben Brabo | GIE

Programme Sessions:

• Setting the scene: How can gas ensure that the EU meets its goals and keeps energy costs low for citizens and industry?
• 1^st Session: The role of gas in an increasingly electrified world
• 2^nd Session: What support is needed for the decarbonisation of energy-intensive industries?
• 3^rd Session: Fuelling transport – CNG, LNG, hydrogen?
• 4^th Session: The evolving building heating sector: electrification, hybrid heating, or hydrogen?

This workshop was organized in partnership with FSR, GIE and Eurogas 

Decarbonisation, decentralisation, and digitalisation are major drivers of an ongoing transformation in the energy markets leading to a new energy governance framework. The so-called ‘energy transition’ challenges the way markets have been regulated, but not only. It also challenges the existing EU energy governance system. Besides the current multi-level governance between the EU, national authorities and undertakings, decentralised energy markets add to the puzzle the growing role of local authorities.

The role of local authorities for the energy transition needs to be suitably incorporated in the governance model of the emerging EU multi-layer and multi-sector energy market architecture. A coherent governance model must conciliate five different dimensions: technical system management, market organisation, institutional structures, consumer and market agent’s interaction (business) models and policy.

New energy governance requires the creation of new functions and structures, as well as the adaptation of existing ones. This increasing complexity must be urgently translated at regulatory and governance levels. It includes the vertical dialogue between regional, national and local authorities, as well as diagonal coordination between these multi-level authorities and the new business model or market roles, e.g. decentralised renewable generation, news role of DSOs, mini-grids, cooperative and digital platforms trading power, prosumers, targets on heating and cooling, electric vehicle charging industry, biogas plant for organic waste management, etc.

The objective of the workshop is twofold:

1. 1. to discuss the theory and practice of new energy local governance models;
   2. to launch a proposal for translating into an appropriate legal language all relevant technical, economic and institutional aspects at the core of new energy governance in the EU and for providing the necessary training structure to all involved decision-makers and stakeholders.

Implementation of this proposal should be achieved through a project supported by interested cities and the European University Institute (Florence School of Regulation and School of Transnational Governance). Active support from European institutions and the European Federation of Energy Law Associations is also expected.

Watch the live-stream here:

• Welcome & Session 1
• Session 2
• Session 3
• Session 4

The workshop is a joint collaboration between the Florence School of Regulation and the School of Transnational Governance. 

The two-day workshop will investigate how the various players are adapting their business models to the new risks and opportunities posed by decarbonisation and digitalisation. It will also look at the new actors that are emerging within the electricity sector or are entering it from other industries.

Decarbonisation and digitalisation are deeply transforming the electricity sector, enabling its further decentralisation. All the segments of the supply chain, from generation to energy retail through transmission and distribution, are affected. The new technologies available and the policy choice to fight against climate change are also stimulating innovation at the traditional edges of the sector. Space behind and beyond the meter is becoming increasingly important and disruption to the classical industry organisation may soon come from there.

The workshop will enable participants from the industry, energy regulators and academics to brainstorm freely and share ideas on where and how value can be created in the electricity sector of the 21^st century.

Participation by invitation only.

The Florence School of Regulation is pleased to host the 6th EU-India Smart Grids Workshop from 19 to 22 November 2018.

The workshop will welcome high-level dignitaries from Indian central and state regulators and DSOs for open discussions on smart grids, which were singled out as a priority area of cooperation in the frame of the EU – India Clean Energy and Climate Partnership, adopted at the 2016 EU-India Summit in Brussels.

To cement the continued exchanges between the EU and India on smart grids further, the first work programme of the Clean Energy and Climate Partnership was later launched at the EU-India Energy Panel meeting on 26 October 2016. At the 2017 EU-India Summit in Delhi, a statement on Clean Energy and Climate confirmed the importance of continued cooperation on smart grids development and deployment.

The first two days of the workshop will focus on existing India-EU energy programs and topical issues related to electric vehicles and energy storage including charging infrastructure, vehicle to grid, business models, interoperability, standardisation and grid integration.

The third day of the workshop, led by the FSR, will be dedicated to a roundtable discussion to allow EU and Indian delegates to engage on the topic of ‘Regulation for cost-effective integration of large shares of renewable energy’.

The programme will follow.

Read the event highlights. 

Ahead of the yearly UN Climate Change Conference in Katowice, the Florence School of Regulation is organising a workshop to brainstorm on how new forms of clean transport can contribute to the global transition to a low-carbon economy and, at the same time, address local issues of mobility and pollution.

Transport represents a major challenge for the European Union. As the population increasingly concentrates in urban areas, the need for more efficient and less polluting ways to move people and goods becomes urgent. Moreover, transportation has to evolve to contribute to the decarbonisation of our economies by the middle of this century. The electrification of cars and other vehicles is a promising option. However, market players, grid companies and public authorities must be aware of the far-reaching consequences that electromobility implies for the organisation and dynamics of electricity markets and systems.

The morning session of the workshop will address clean transport from the point of view of cities and companies offering mobility solutions. In the afternoon, the focus will move to the interactions between electromobility and the electricity system. Indeed, the deployment of millions of EVs poses both risks and opportunities that power generators, final consumers and grid operators will have to deal with.

The workshop is open to FSR donors, national regulatory authorities, EU institutions and national governments. Requests from others will be assessed on a case by case basis due to the limited seats available.

This workshop aims to map out the pros and cons of implementing nodal pricing for the electricity sector in Europe, referring to the relevant international experience.

The geographical structure of the EU electricity market has been widely discussed in recent years. Its less-than-optimal configuration is becoming a limiting factor for the efficiency of the market integration process. The EU electricity sector suffers from high levels of Unscheduled Flows (UFs), which are partly due to the suboptimal geographical (zonal) configuration of the market. It is also likely that the increasing penetration of variable renewable-based generation will increase the level of UFs.

Consideration should be given to whether Europe should move from a zonal market structure to a nodal pricing structure, as this would avoid UFs by design. However, such pricing might pose other challenges.

The Workshop will be structured in two sessions:

• Session I will review the experience with the implementation of nodal pricing for the electricity market, including its impact on market price and basis risk hedging and liquidity;
• Session II will use the results of the first session to discuss the benefits of moving the EU electricity market design towards a nodal price structure, as well as the associated challenges.

This workshop is a part of the FSR Regulatory Policy Workshop Series 2018-2019 and is exclusively open to national regulators, representatives from public bodies and associate & major donors of the FSR Energy area.

Read the event highlights

The Florence School of Regulation (FSR) is collaborating with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to initiate the dialogue on the need for state-of-the-art regulation in Latin America times of rapid innovation.

The objective of this workshop is to understand what are the key challenges that regulatory authorities are currently facing in LAC and what are the challenges expected for the next 15 years. How the IDB may help to build regulatory knowledge to promote an efficient transition to sustainable and accessible energy industry.

At the workshop, FSR will kick start with an opening panel on ‘Utilities of the future, regulatory challenges and innovative tools’. The panel will discuss why any regulation in Latin America is needed in the future when business models and innovation is shifting the old energy world as we know it, what are the emerging business models in this transitory phase, how can regulators prepare themselves to ride the new wave and experiences from the Californian regulator on their journey so far.

The panel:

• Jean-Michel Glachant, Director FSR
• Ignacio Perez Arriaga, Director Research FSR & Professor at  MIT
• Norman Bay, Ex-Director Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
• Andrew McAllister, Commissioner of California Energy Commission

As part of this initiative, FSR is preparing a research report presenting the recent disruptions that the energy sector faces and the current developments that address these challenging new times. Inputs from the workshop will be incorporated into the report which will be published in December 2018.

Examine the challenges and opportunities of moving down the road towards net zero methane emissions in the gas sector during the FSR Policy workshop, organised in cooperation with Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE).

For a long period of time, the problem of methane emissions in the oil and gas sector was mainly a non-European issue. However, recent studies revealing that the level of methane emissions could be higher than previously assumed triggered a series of discussions. As a result, the challenge has been officially recognised and the European Commission is working on the EU methane emission strategy, which is expected to be published this fall.

During the workshop, we will look into the dynamics of the emissions reduction and will examine what type of regulatory measures complementing the voluntary industry initiatives are needed in the EU to tackle the problem.

The workshop is divided into two sessions:

• Session 1: Is the reduction of emissions in gas sector the low hanging fruit of climate change mitigation?
• Session 2: Is there a need for more regulation?