Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) will hold an exchange of views on the draft reports by Jerzy Buzek (EPP, Poland) and Jens Geier (S&D, Germany) on the gradual establishment of a new European market for renewable and low-carbon gases on Wednesday, 13 July.
The draft reports deal respectively with: - the revision of the Regulation (715/2009) on conditions for access to the fossil gas transmission networks; - the revision of the Directive (2009/73) setting out common rules for the internal market in fossil gas.
In relation to the text proposals presented by the European Commission on 15 December 2021 (see EUROPE 12854/11), Mr Geier wants, in particular, to clarify the definition of low carbon fuels and hydrogen.
According to its draft report, the reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting from the use of low-carbon fuels should be at least 70% compared to a fossil fuel comparator with a threshold of 94 gCO2eq/MJ. This would also address life-cycle emissions, taking into account methane leakage as well as emissions from the production, transport and distribution and end-use of low-carbon fuels and hydrogen.
In order to take into account technological developments, the Commission would have the possibility to adapt this threshold for low-carbon fuels produced in installations that come into operation starting the 1st of January 2031.
Mr Geier also wants to require Member States to ensure that regional and local authorities develop local heating and cooling plans to promote the most efficient use of local renewable sources and the integration of energy systems at local level.
These plans are expected to include a strategy defining the infrastructure requirements for distribution to meet the current and future heating and cooling demand of a specific area.
His draft report also introduces a new article on monitoring energy poverty and security. According to this report, the Commission would be required to produce a public report mapping the level of energy poverty and the risk of energy poverty in each Member State no later than two years after the date of entry into force of the new rules and every two years thereafter.
The text also contains a series of amendments aimed at ensuring that the use of hydrogen should initially be prioritised in sectors that are difficult to decarbonise “where no other more energy and cost efficient options are available”.
Mr Buzek, on the other hand, proposes to set up a joint European organisation of gas transmission system operators and hydrogen system operators (ENTSO-G&H). It would therefore not be a question of creating a completely new and separate organisation dedicated to hydrogen, as proposed by the Commission with its ‘European Network of Network Operators for Hydrogen ’(ENNOH), but rather of establishing a separate structure for hydrogen within the existing ‘European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas’ (ENTSO-G).
According to Mr Buzek, this would “facilitate the efficient and rapid planning and development of future hydrogen networks, including through repurposing of existing gas networks, and build on synergies between gas and hydrogen infrastructure”.
“The next decade will show if a separate structure (ENNOH) will be necessary”, the draft report goes on to say.
The text also introduces a new article according to which each Member State should ensure that natural gas supplied by pipeline from a country outside the European Economic Area (EEA) does not exceed 33% of the annual natural gas imports of the Member State concerned by 31 December 2026 and 25% by 31 December 2029.
The aim is to reduce dependence on pipeline imports of natural gas from third countries and to diversify the EU’s gas supplies in order to maintain its energy security.
In line with the Commission’s ‘REPowerEU’ plan to move the EU away from dependence on Russian fossil fuels (see EUROPE 12955/4), Mr Buzek wants Member States to collectively produce at least 35 billion m3 of biomethane by 31 December 2030.
In addition, Member States would be required to draw up regional maps identifying areas with the greatest potential for sustainable biogas and biomethane production while respecting the EU’s sustainability criteria.
In addition, the rapporteur proposes that the Commission provide incentives, including EU funds, to encourage the penetration of renewable and low-carbon gases, including hydrogen and biomethane, into the energy system of coal and carbon intensive regions.
See the draft reports: https://aeur.eu/f/2jc ; https://aeur.eu/f/2jd (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)