In an open letter sent to the European Commission on Monday 14 October, the energy ministers of Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain set out their priorities for accelerating the deployment of renewable energies in Europe.
The ministers from these countries, known as the ‘Friends of Renewables’, will meet the following day, Tuesday 15 October, at the initiative of Denmark and Malta, ahead of the EU ‘Energy’ Council in Luxembourg.
At the same time, the member countries of the ‘Nuclear Alliance’ will meet and publish their priorities for recognising the role of nuclear energy on an equal footing with renewable energies in European legislation (see EUROPE 13363/3).
In their note, the ministers of the ‘Friends of Renewables’ countries call for the implementation of the 2030 energy framework to be stepped up and for a post-2030 policy to be created to guarantee long-term investment in renewable energies. In their view, this includes a revision of the Governance Regulation and a revision of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED III) (see EUROPE 13296/32) covering the period after 2030.
They consider it essential to tackle the bottlenecks that are hindering the accelerated deployment of renewable energies, in particular by speeding up permitting processes, improving market integration and encouraging innovations such as hydrogen, energy storage and smart grids.
Licensing and Flexibility. Specifically, the ministers recommend that the new Commission present a targeted legislative proposal for a Directive on the Acceleration of Permitting of RES (renewable energy sources) and energy infrastructure, based on RED III.
Secondly, they believe it is important to “identify ways for flexibility solutions to grow at a similar pace” to “accommodate (...) efficient scaling up of renewables”.
They therefore call on the Commission to develop a general toolbox to enable Member States to better manage the integration of “volatile” renewable energy production.
Hydrogen. The ministers are also calling for the creation of a regulatory framework conducive to the acceleration of the European hydrogen economy by guaranteeing “reliable, transparent, predictable and internationally-oriented” certification systems, as well as encouraging the development of cross-border infrastructures, including with third countries.
Sustainable Finance. Finally, the authors of the note believe that the EU must leverage private financing and create a competitive sustainable finance market.
The ministers are therefore putting forward the idea of a voluntary EU Green Loan Standard, along the lines of the EU Green Bond Standard, to help leverage the banking market and steer investment towards renewable energy and energy savings, as well as to support the financing of the Renovation Wave.
To see the note: https://aeur.eu/f/dvx (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)