On Friday 9 September, the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union sent Member States its first draft compromises on the legislative package to promote renewable and low-carbon gases, in particular hydrogen.
Presented by the European Commission on 15 December 2021 (see EUROPE 12854/11), this package contains: - a proposal for a Directive on common rules for the internal markets in natural and renewable gases and hydrogen (recast of Directive 2009/73); - a proposal for a regulation on the internal markets for natural and renewable gas and hydrogen (recast of regulation 715/2009).
As these are first versions, the two draft compromises of the Czech Presidency contain few significant changes compared to the Commission’s texts.
However, Prague proposes to add an article on the certification of underground gas storage sites in the proposed regulation, along the lines of the existing provisions in the regulation on gas storage adopted following the reduction in gas supplies from Russia (see EUROPE 12980/3).
This would require Member States to ensure that each storage system operator operating underground gas storage facilities with a capacity of more than 3.5 TWh is certified either by the national regulatory authority or by another competent authority designated for this purpose, where the total filling of the storage facilities on 31 March 2021 and 31 March 2022 was, on average, less than 30% of their maximum capacity for 1 February 2023.
This obligation would also apply to storage system operators controlled by transmission system operators that have already been certified. In this case, the certification authority should strive to issue a draft certification decision by 1 November 2022.
For other storage system operators, the certification authority is expected to issue a draft certification decision by 2 January 2024, the draft compromise states.
When issuing the certification, the competent authority should in particular ensure that there is no risk to the security of gas supply at national, regional or EU level.
For example, it should refuse to grant certification if it concludes that a person controlling or exercising any power over the storage system operator could jeopardise the security of energy supply or essential security interests of the EU or of a Member State.
The certification authority may also issue a certification decision with conditions to ensure sufficient mitigation of risks that may adversely affect the filling of underground gas storage facilities.
See the draft compromises: https://aeur.eu/f/31w ; https://aeur.eu/f/31x (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)