Agrégateur de flux

Two years ago the European Commission published its Communication on the Energy Union, marking a new approach to the European energy sector.

It was based on an accurate diagnosis of the challenges facing the sector: a high dependency on fossil fuel imports; ageing infrastructure; a major crisis in markets that delivered high retail prices but low wholesale prices, thereby discouraging investment in carbon-free power generation.

The Communication also identified the winning strategy for Europe. Decarbonise the economy to reconcile sustainable development, security of supply and competitiveness. It announced consistent policies and measures regarding the five dimensions of energy and climate policy: security of supply, market integration, energy efficiency, decarbonisation and research and development.

EDF Group, as a leader in low-carbon electricity generation and in R&D, welcomed this initiative and its ambitions for innovative low-carbon growth.

The Communication logically suggested that some sort of governance should be implemented to ensure that national policies would lead to compliance with the European objectives. With the ‘Clean Energy for all Europeans’ package, we now know how this governance could be organised.

But does the proposal accurately address the main issues facing the European Union? As is often the case, the glass is half-full and half-empty.

“We can be confident that the target of 27% of renewable energy sources will be met”

We need an institutionalised dialogue between member states and the European Union, and more transparency regarding national energy policies. To some extent, the Communication achieved this, launching a process of continuous discussion and triggering visits by Maroš Šefčovič, the Commission’s Vice-President for the Energy Union, to the European capitals to discuss the role of member states in the Energy Union.

The future national plans will ensure wider long-term visibility for member states’ projects. If such a dialogue had occurred earlier, we might have developed renewable sources of electricity more efficiently. And we might have prevented stop-and-go policies that induced serious shocks on the renewables sector and tensions that resulted from the impact of variable energy on power trade.

Furthermore, greater consistency has been introduced in energy and climate policy since the Energy Union was created. Before, many initiatives were developed separately and the impact of new draft legislation on existing texts or on legislation in progress was not always taken into account. The Clean Energy Package aims at consistency by launching simultaneously interlinked pieces of legislation based on a common approach. This is a positive move.

But there are downsides. The glass is half-empty in the sense that one very important element of energy and climate policy is not part of the package: the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) Directive.

The ETS Directive was launched before the Communication was released and it will be adopted before the political discussions on several elements of the package are complete. This is extremely concerning since the package’s provisions regarding renewable energy sources and energy efficiency have a major impact on the carbon market. The higher the ambition and the less flexible the governance, the higher the risk of depressed carbon prices – and possibly even a breakdown of the ETS, Europe’s main tool for cost-effective decarbonisation.

This is why the governance aspect of the package must be further enhanced. Some of the key performance indicators should measure the efficiency of energy and climate policies. It is also necessary to identify where policies may overlap and interfere with each other, to prevent any negative consequences.

It is possible, for instance, to neutralise the impact of increased energy efficiency on carbon markets. Some amendments are currently being prepared to this end, and they merit serious discussion.

“We need an institutionalised dialogue between member states and the European Union”

It is also possible to allow for enough flexibility to be able to cope with a potential crisis. The 2008 recession proved that the carbon market was not robust enough to adapt to a shock if the rest of the energy climate framework remained rigid. The ETS is under particular threat in the next five or ten years and we must introduce enough flexibility, in particular by avoiding rigid trajectories, to protect it.

We can be confident that the target of 27% of renewable energy sources will be met; most member states are sufficiently ambitious. Should any doubt arise, the mid-2020s will be the right moment to decide how to deal with any difficulties. Let us not waste time anticipating problems that may not occur.

One more point is worth mentioning: the new target to ensure that every member state reaches an interconnection capacity with networks in other countries that is equivalent to 15% of its installed capacity. This target does not fully take into account that energy policies must necessarily be cost-effective. In this particular case decentralisation is preferable to governance: Europe is better off having interconnectors with a positive cost-benefit ratio rather than sticking to precise targets.

The proposed Governance Regulation appears at first sight more political than other elements of the package. In a sense this is true: we are about to define the respective roles of the member states and the Union and the organisation of their dialogue.

But governance is also about meeting targets at optimum cost and contributing to an efficient functioning of markets. Governance is an essential element of a cost-effective European energy and climate policy, and decision-makers must keep this in mind.

IMAGE CREDIT: CC/Flickr – Håkan Dahlström

The post Cost-effective energy policy must be key goal of governance plans appeared first on Europe’s World.

Croatie : Zdravko Marić reste ministre des Finances, Božo Petrov s'en va, la crise continue
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Crise politique en Croatie : les cléricaux de Most font à nouveau tomber le gouvernement
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/ Croatie, Courrier des Balkans, Politique intérieure

Croatie : Zdravko Marić reste ministre des Finances, Božo Petrov s'en va, la crise continue
Élections locales en Croatie : le HDZ rafle la mise
Crise politique en Croatie : les cléricaux de Most font à nouveau tomber le gouvernement
Croatie : Zagreb dans la rue pour l'éducation, contre l'obscurantisme
Croatie : Agrokor, le risque d'une faillite qui ferait chavirer les Balkans
Croatie : la « révolution nationale » ultra-réac se poursuit au ministère de la Culture
Croatie : Vesna Pusić, une candidate aux Nations Unies qui gêne la droite nationaliste

/ Croatie, Courrier des Balkans, Politique intérieure

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Americas

• Raytheon has bee awarded at $12.5 million modification to an existing contract for the Phalanx Close-in Weapons System (CIWS). Under the terms of the deal, the company will deliver Phalanx CIWS hardware kits to the US Navy that are intended to upgrade the Phalanx weapons system to the latest approved configuration. Work will be performed at El Segundo, Calif. And Louisville, Ky, and the program is expected to be completed by March 2019.

• Elbit Systems of America has been sub-contracted by Lockheed Martin to develop a cockpit display replacement unit for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter under a program, called Technology Refresh 3, Panoramic Cockpit Display Unit. While the cost of the contract was not given, a company statement said that the value of the award was not in a material amount. Details on contract length were also omitted. Elbit already provides power amplifiers, structures and sustainment work for the F-35 and, together with Rockwell Collins, it also provides the F-35 Helmet Mounted Display System, through their joint venture Rockwell Collins ESA Vision Systems.

• SpaceX will launch the USAF’s next X-37B miniature spaceplane mission in August—the company’s first for the service— after four previous X-37B missions have already been undertaken by United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas 5 rockets—a joint venture by Lockheed Martin and Boeing. Unlike most USAF launch contracts, which are awarded some two years before the flight, this recent award was only announced on Tuesday, two months before lift-off. SpaceX’s first publicly disclosed launch contract for the Air Force was awarded last year for a next-generation Global Positioning System satellite flight in 2018. A second GPS launch contract was awarded in March. The contracts are valued at $83million and $96.5 million, respectively.

Middle Easy & North Africa

• A diplomatic spat between Qatar and several Arab neighbors could have knock on effects for Doha’s planned purchase of 72 F-15QA muliti-role fighters from Boeing. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, the UAE, as well as he recognised government of Saudi-backed Yemen, all cancelled flights to and cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar on Monday, citing that it had been supporting and funding terrorist activities in the region and was in league with regional rival Iran—charges Qatar denies. However, US President Donald Trump has thrown his weight behind the move, tweeting on Tuesday that they [Saudi and Gulf allies] “said they would take a hard line on funding … extremism, and all reference was pointing to Qatar. Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism!”, arguing that his visit to Saudi Arabia was “already paying off.” Qatar was finally cleared to move ahead with its $21.1 billion F-15 procurement last November, and although the deal has yet to be finalized, it was billed as extending Boeing’s struggling F-15 production line into the 2020s.

Europe

• French FREMM frigates have been integrated with MdCN naval cruise missiles from MBDA. This new deep strike capability was added to the vessels in February, with all six equipped with two A70 eight-cell vertical-launch silos for a total of 16 MdCN missiles. The MdCN is based on the Scalp EG (Storm Shadow in the UK) air-launched cruise missile now in service with Mirage 2000 and Rafale combat aircraft deployed by the French Air Force and Rafale Marine aircraft.

• The Spanish Air Force and Navy are looking into the procurement of F-35s in order to replace the services’ EF-18s and AV-8B Harrier aircraft. For the Navy, its Harrier jets will have to be phased out over the next decade—leaving the Armada’s sole aircraft carrier without a fixed-wing replacement—and is looking at acquiring 15 F-35Bs to fill its capability gap. But in order to make the procurement worthwhile financially, Madrid may also look at adding addition F-35A aircraft to its air Force fleet instead of addition Eurofighters.

Asia Pacific

• Officials from Russia and Indonesia have finalized contracts for the delivery of Su-35 fighters. Negotiations over the draft Su-35 contract had begun in March and it is expected that the deal will be signed by both parties later this year. While further details on the sale have yet to be revealed, earlier reports said that the planned contract envisages the sale of 10 Su-35 jets to Jakarta, which could be paid for in part by Indonesia’s natural rubber and palm oil reserves.

• China has unveiled its FTC-2000 pilot trainer/fighter aircraft ahead of testing in Sudan. The aircraft is developed by the Guizhou Aviation Industry Corporation under the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China, and operates as the main advanced trainer used by the PLA Air Force and the PLA Navy. Both the domestic and export variants are powered by the indigenously-built WP-13 turbojet engine, with the export version featuring various avionics systems, navigation guidance systems or external stores tailored for overseas client’s demand for multiple missions.

Today’s Video

• Kim Jong-un oversees Korean People’s Army Air Force combat flight contest: