On Monday 12 December, the European Commission announced its decision to give its approval to the Danish plan to grant partial compensation to a greater number of heavy users of energy for the levy to support renewable energy.
Currently, the support provided by the Danish public authorities to renewable energy is paid for out of contributions levied on energy consumption. The EU state aid rules allow governments to offer reductions in these contributions under certain conditions, in particular to intensive users of electricity carrying out activities in particularly energy-intensive sectors and/or those faced with international competition.
In October 2015, the Commission approved a Danish scheme to grant reductions of this kind. It now wishes to extend the scope of application of these reductions to high-energy intensity users in several additional manufacturing sectors and four horticultural sectors. All of the other conditions of the original scheme remain unchanged and will apply to the new beneficiaries: energy-intensive users in particular will receive compensation capped at 85% of their contribution to the funding of the support from renewable energy. (Original version in French by Élodie Lamer)