On Tuesday 27 March, the European Commission invited interested parties to submit observations concerning the commitments presented by TenneT, a German network manager, to increase the electrical interconnection capacity between Western Denmark and Germany.
This call follows the launch of a formal investigation into the German company on 19 March (see EUROPE 11984). The institution hopes to determine whether it is breaching EU competition law with its practices limiting electrical capacity between Germany and western Denmark.
To address the Commission's concerns, TenneT is proposing to guarantee a minimum hourly capacity of 1,300 MW on the interconnection in question. This threshold could be reduced only in a limited number of exceptional circumstances, in the event of a need to guarantee the safety of the high-voltage electricity network. The commitments proposed by the company would be valid for a period of nine years and an independent agent would verify that they were being complied with.
“We will assess whether TenneT's proposed commitments address competition concerns in light of the responses of interested parties”, said Margrethe Vestager, the Commissioner for competition policy.
Stakeholders have four weeks, after the publication of the commitments in the Official Journal of the EU, to present their comments. Once it has examined them, the Commission will determine whether they are sufficient to respond to its competition concerns. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)