Representatives of the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament met, on Thursday 12 October, for a third session of interinstitutional negotiations on the ‘gas package’ directive (one directive, one regulation) (see EUROPE 13224/16).
“The negotiations are taking place in an ongoing, constructive and optimistic atmosphere”, said the directive’s rapporteur, Jens Geier (S&D, German), after the meeting. “There are, of course, differences between legislators on key issues”, he added, “but none of them seem to constitute a major obstacle causing many problems”.
TSO/DSO
Negotiations are moving towards an agreement on the separation of transmission system operators (TSOs) and distribution system operators (DSOs) for hydrogen. However, discussions need to continue at a technical level to find a solution for cross-border distribution (notably between France and Germany), so that DSOs are able to “cross” national borders, which is not currently authorised.
Network planning
With regard to transmission network planning, the European Parliament has proposed the integrated planning of hydrogen, gas and electricity networks. The majority of the EU Council is not in favour of integrating the electricity network. Thus, it remains to be seen whether these will be separate plans or just joint planning for gas and hydrogen. According to several parliamentary sources, this point is still unresolved and will have to be discussed at technical level.
For Parliament, however, it is important that, if integrated planning with the electricity grid does not take place, it should be “more or less” aligned with planning for gas and hydrogen.
Local plans for heating and cooling
With regard to heating and cooling planning by municipalities, a provision has already been included in the revision of the Energy Efficiency Directive (see EUROPE 13268/29). It focused on households. The current directive attempts to include the needs of industry and transport, but this article remains open for the time being.
A series of other points still need to be discussed in more detail, such as the right to protection for vulnerable consumers, which is also included in the electricity market reform currently being negotiated (see other news item), the issue of existing and geographically limited hydrogen networks, and vertical unbundling, i.e. the possibility for a gas network operator to manage a hydrogen network.
The various parliamentary sources contacted expressed optimism about the future of the negotiations and said they believe that they will be able to reach an agreement at the next political trilogue on 27 November. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)