The EU ETS has a central role in promoting and facilitating green transition in energy and industry sectors. The current reform provides an opportunity to redesign the EU ETS to help companies implement their carbon-neutrality strategies more effectively and leave no consumers behind. In the context of high carbon prices, even more, attention is needed to ensure that the safeguards are effective in limiting the unnecessary cost of decarbonisation. CEEP participated in the working diner co-hosted by three MEPs in Strasbourg last month. The main topic was the EU ETS reform, with a focus on speculation and on the funding mechanisms. The participants exchanged views on possible solutions to redesign the EU ETS so that it is fit for its purpose, fair, and can work for all to ensure clean and affordable energy to power our households and economy. Next month, CEEP with ERCST will also provide an overview of the size and functioning of the funding mechanisms which are part of the revised EU ETS and the Fit for 55 Package, i.e. the Social Climate Fund, and will put forward some recommendations in light of the ongoing legislative [...]
The electricity grids of Ukraine and Moldova have been successfully synchronised with the Continental European Grid on the 16th of March. This acceleration of the synchronisation project ongoing since 2017 has been possible thanks to the previous studies carried out and the adoption of risk mitigation measures. This is a great achievement on both technical and political levels, especially since the request from the Ukrainian and Moldovan sides came on the 27th and 28th of February. Credits for this significant milestone go to the Continental Europe TSOs and especially to Ukrenergo and Moldelectrica which are operating their respective power systems under extremely difficult circumstances. It is also a success of the European Commission and national authorities who provided important support and assistance in the synchronisation process. The successful synchronisation ends Ukraine’s dependence on the Russian power grid system and will allow Ukraine to have a stable electricity system in place. Until the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, most of Ukraine and Moldova were part of the Russian synchronous system, thus relying on that more extensive system to maintain the frequency in Ukraine. Source: [...]
PERN, a CEEP member company, is the Polish leader in crude oil and fuels logistics and a strategic company that guarantees energy security in the area of oil supplies in Poland, but also in the European Union. A company is prepared for a ban on oil imports from Russia thanks to its developed pipeline system, fuel depots and oil terminal at the Baltic sea coast. President of PERN Igor Wasilewski in a recent interview for Biznes Alert underlined that PERN has done its homework in the area of energy security. ‘’We have expanded the storage infrastructure in Gdańsk thus it is possible to import various types of oil from different directions of the world and currently, we have almost two million cubic meters of storage capacity by the sea itself”, he stated. A company has among its main customers two Polish and two German refineries. PERN pipeline system has already been tested in 2019 during the chlorine crisis (Russian oil delivered to Poland was contaminated with chlorides), when for 46 days it was supplied solely from the oil terminal in Gdansk. Operational efficiency and investments have made that today PERN is prepared for the option of zero oil supplies from Russia. ‘’The war in Ukraine has shown that the diversification of raw material supplies is fundamental for the security of any country and we cannot focus only on one direction. I can say that today the annual demand of the Polish refineries is about 27 million tons. This means that the oil terminal in Gdańsk (36 million tons) still has a margin to offer the capacity to its German [...]
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. First of all I am very grateful for this opportunity to share my views on energy sector’s resilience during these interesting but challenging times. I would like to focus on three dimensions: the importance of security of supply, benefits of the current EU energy security framework, and how we can go further with upcoming initiatives. A resilient and secure supply of energy is a prerequisite for the successful clean energy transition and for EU strategic economy and autonomy. Energy is essential for our economy and the welfare of our citizens. Recent events like Texas’ blackout due to extreme weather conditions or the Continental pipeline cyberattack have clearly shown how an incident in the energy sector can have immediate devastating effects on the whole society. Energy prices spike in this autumn reminds us, that the resilience of the energy system is increasingly important. So, our goal is to make sure the EU energy system can provide – whatever happens – reliable supply, as it integrates more renewable energy, and reduces the dependence to external fossil fuels suppliers. For these reasons, energy security as one of the five dimensions of the EU Energy Union is a key element of the European Green Deal but also the EU Security Union Strategy. Over the past few months, we are seeing a significant surge in energy prices. The wholesale electricity prices rose to record highs reaching around 260 EUR per megawatt hour in late November, and gas prices have risen more than 300% since the beginning of the year. This is not only electricity and gas that have seen [...]
On December 3, during the 6th Central European Day of Energy, CEEP released a report on the resilience of the Central European power sector in the time of transition, written by REKK. In the report, we focus on resilience in the context of coal phase-out and the rapid development of intermittent solar and wind energy sources. There is no question by now, that coal needs to be phased out, but there are still several options and solutions to fill in the gap in the power production capacity. When and how to replace coal in a cost-efficient way, while keeping system security levels high, remains a key question (not only) in the Central European energy sector transition. According to the modelling natural gas-based capacities will play a key role in providing flexibility in Central Europe in 2030. More natural gas will be needed in the power sector to provide the flexibility required in the future. However, altogether less natural gas-based power generation capacities will be required for that, than what we have in the system now. More than 14 GW of existing coal capacity is to be closed until 2030, which is around 10% of the total net generation capacity installed in Central Europe. Despite the high decrease in coal-based generation in Central Europe by 2030, coal to gas switch will happen only partly – a large share of the “missing” production is to be compensated by renewable producers. The estimated increase of intermittent RES capacity from 29 GW in 2022 to 71 GW in 2030 in Central Europe will require investments in adequate dispatchable and flexible generation, storage capacities, [...]
We represent the widely understood Central Europe energy sector (electricity generation, distribution and transmission, renewables, gas, oil, heat generation and distribution, chemical industries, etc.), universities and scientific institutions.
