The level of ambition of the European Parliament’s raft of amendments to the proposal for a revised directive on renewable energy drafted by José Blanco López (S&D, Spain) will face its first test in an energy committee vote on Tuesday 28 November, as Parliament seeks a solid position on the key points – the overall target for the share of renewables by 2030, support regimes, heating and cooling production and the target for renewables in the transport sector – for trialogue negotiations with the Council, which has yet to agree its position.
On the target for the share of renewable energy in the EU’s primary energy consumption to 2030, the majority compromise amendment supported by the S&D and EPP Groups (with the notable exception of the Polish MEPs ) sets a binding EU target of 35% with national indicative targets.
An alternative minority compromise amendment, supported by the GUE/NGL, Greens/EFA and EFDD Groups, calls for a minimum binding target of 35% for 2030 and includes binding targets for each member state.
In its proposal of November 2016 (see EUROPE 11679), the Commission sets a binding EU target of 27% and no national targets, not even indicative.
“The S&D-EPP compromise amendment should obtain majority support but it is far from being assured of a majority in plenary session”, an industry source close to the matter told us.
On the support regimes, the compromise proposed by Blanco López leaves the door open to two options: application by the member states of the principle of technological neutrality, as proposed by the Commission, which wants an end to feed-in tariff schemes, and authorisation of calls for offers for each technology thus leaving it possible to support less mature, and therefore more expensive, technologies.
Also on support regimes, the rapporteur argues for a compromise requiring the member states to open their support regimes to producers from other member states, up to at least 8% every year between 2021 and 2025 then at least 13% per year until 2030.
With regard to the heating and cooling sector, the compromise proposed by Blanco López sets an obligation by means, and not by results, so that member states ensure a two percentage point increase per year (against one percentage point per year in the Commission’s proposal) in the share of renewables in the production of heating and cooling and of waste heat. “This strand of the text will be keenly debated with the Council because many member states will want to lower the level of ambition”, our source said.
On transport, Blanco López’s compromise sets two requirements, one for member states to guarantee that the share of renewables in the final consumption in the transport sector be at least 12% by 2030, the other for fuel suppliers to ensure a share of at least 10% of fuels from renewable sources. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)