On Monday 8 March, the political groups of the European Parliament finalised the compromise amendments to the draft own-initiative report by Christophe Grudler (Renew Europe, France) on the European Union’s strategy for the integration of the energy system.
Presented on 8 July by the European Commission, the strategy for the integration of the energy system aims to establish closer links between the multiple vectors, infrastructures and sectors of energy consumption in order to put the EU on the path towards an integrated and climate-neutral energy system (see EUROPE 12523/2).
It thus concerns both energy efficiency and electrification, via hydrogen (which is the subject of a dedicated strategy – see EUROPE 12523/1).
Hydrogen
According to our information, the issue of hydrogen has been one of the subjects on which the different political groups have had the most difficulty in finding a compromise.
While the EPP wanted to stress the role of low-carbon hydrogen in the energy transition, the Greens/EFA and The Left groups wanted to remove any positive reference to low-carbon hydrogen from the report, in order to mention only renewable hydrogen.
The compromise amendments, obtained by EUROPE, finally state that the Parliament “ is convinced that renewable and low-carbon hydrogen can help reduce persistent emissions [...] where direct electrification might be limited”.
But they also stress “the need to develop a robust framework and appropriate baseline to ensure that sufficient additional renewable energy generation capacity is deployed in proportion to the need for renewable hydrogen”.
MEPs therefore call on the Commission to develop “a comprehensive classification and certification framework of gaseous carriers (such as hydrogen) based on the full life cycle GHG emissions savings and sustainability criteria”.
CCUS
Another low-carbon hydrogen issue that has divided the political groups is the question of CO2 capture, use and storage technologies (CCUS).
As a compromise, the compromise amendments underline the role that these technologies “could” play in achieving the objectives of the European Green Deal, while recalling “the need to prioritise direct emission reductions and [...] the EU’s natural sinks and reservoirs” such as forests.
Conserving and reusing energy
As detailed above, the compromise amendments call for a clear commitment to the ‘energy efficiency first principle’ (see EUROPE 12670/21).
MEPs also call on the Commission and Member States to develop incentives and effective business models for recovering industrial waste heat and unavoidable waste heat (e.g., from data centres) from heating networks or storage.
According to them, district heating and cooling networks should be eligible for inclusion in the list of Projects of Common Interest (PCI) in the framework of the revision of the TEN-E Regulation (see EUROPE 12623/3).
They also call on the Commission to propose concrete initiatives to reduce energy losses along transmission and distribution networks and measures to further reduce methane emissions in the energy sector.
While the Commission’s strategy for integrating the energy system focuses mainly on wind power, MEPs stress the potential of solar energy.
Finally, they call on the Commission to propose rules to enable citizen energy communities to participate more fully in the integration of the energy system.
These compromise amendments will now be put to a vote in the Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) on 18 March, with a view to a vote in the European Parliament plenary session in April.
See the compromise amendments: http://bit.ly/3sUisvM (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)