Brussels, 27/11/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Monday, Commissioner Loyola de Palacio submitted a draft directive to the Energy Council that aims to promote high efficiency cogeneration in the internal electricity market. This had been adopted by the European Commission in July (see EUROPE 18 July p 9). The delegations that had addressed their recommendations in writing to the Presidency gave their first impressions on Monday, which were generally positive.
Finland, Austria, the United Kingdom and Denmark declared that they supported the promotion of cogeneration and preferred to make their views known in writing. The Spanish Secretary of State, Mr Folgado Blanco, welcomed the idea of certification (guarantee of origins of the electricity from cogeneration: Editor's note). However, he believed that the directive should include an assessment of high efficiency cogeneration. Germany also supports the project but according to its Minister, Mr Clement, "Union aid is needed for the cogeneration sector". Greece was also positive about the project but sought a clearer definition of cogeneration. Ms Fontaine from France explained that the directive should not set themselves detailed figures and that there was no reason to discriminate against installations because of their size (the proposal calls for concentrating public aid on small installations: Editor's note). Mr Schuwer, the Dutch Assistant Permanent Representative declared that this directive could be simplified if it contained too many technical elements. Portugal was more forthright with its doubts regarding the possibility of harmonisation in this area throughout the EU. Olivier Deleuze anted the directive with more ambitious energy efficiency objectives. Henri Gretehn from Luxembourg was categorical, "This directive will not have any outstanding effect in any country…The number of reports that will have to be provided to the Commission will also bog down our bureaucracy", concluding that the project was "absurd".