White Papers Responding To Continual Energy Market Change | Page 3

Responding To Continual Energy Market Change

A ComTechAdvisory Whitepaper

THE EU DRIVES CHANGE
The EU has committed to a single European energy market and it has been working to eliminate barriers to
wholesale and retail competition for several years. Although progress has at times been painfully slow, nonetheless, there has been significant forward momentum. The highly regional nature of the European power industry in
particular, has been diminished by market coupling between many national and regional markets across the continent1,2. This continued movement to a single market for power and for gas, will also require steady and sustained
investment in infrastructure as well as further standardization, in order to succeed.

At the same time, the EU has also aggressively committed to the reduction of CO2 emissions across the continent
with the 20:20 legislation that was enacted in 20093. This
commits EU countries to a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions
(versus 1990 levels), as well as ensuring that 20% of power
is generated from renewable sources along with a 20% improvement in energy efficiency. In turn, this has driven national
legislation and energy strategies, providing subsidies for renewables and penalties for certain types of fossil fuels or even
their elimination, such as the UK’s decision to move away from
coal generation by 20254, for example. The decision by Germany in the shadow of the Fukushima disaster to eliminate all
nuclear generation by 2022 and to immediately shut down
eight nuclear facilities5 has also had a massive impact on the
European generation mix. Indeed, the EU has now set the bar

even higher requiring that 27% of all generated power be from
renewable sources by 20306.

By 2014, the EU had already achieved a 15.3% share
of gross final energy consumption from renewable sources
and, in 2015 some 26% of power generated was from renewable sources7,8. Given the decision in Germany on nuclear power, it currently leads the way, generating around
33% of its final power consumption in 20159 via renewable
sources on the way to meeting an aggressive target of 45%
by 203010. This massive shift in the industry has put the
EU in the lead globally in many areas of renewable and
smart grid technology innovation and development, but it
has also had a huge impact on the industry at large.

See - http://www.acer.europa.eu/en/electricity/regional_initiatives/cross_regional_roadmaps/pages/1.-market-coupling.aspx for more
details
2
http://www.acer.europa.eu/en/The_agency/Mission_and_Objectives/Documents/ACER%20Work%20Programme%202016%20-Revised%20Jan%202016.pdf
3
http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/strategies/2020/index_en.htm
4
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/nov/18/energy-policy-shift-climate-change-amber-rudd-backburner
5
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-nuclear-idUSKCN0SQ1G520151101
6
http://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/topics/energy-strategy/2030-energy-strategy
7
https://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/topics/renewable-energy
8
http://smartcities-infosystem.eu/sites/default/files/concerto_files/concerto_presentations/Renewable_energy_progress_report%20.pdf
9
http://www.volker-quaschning.de/datserv/ren-Strom-D/index.php
10
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5430
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