Austrian Presidency vows to complete Clean Energy Package by end of 2018

Vienna – The Austrian Presidency of the Council of the European Union has announced its intention to finalise all legislation related to the Clean Energy Package by the end of 2018.

Elisabeth Köstinger, Austria’s Environment Minister told an informal Environment Council that finalising the package was the country’s main priority within its six-month period of holding the presidency.

Four of the eight legislative proposals from the Package were successfully negotiated under the Bulgarian presidency: the Energy Efficiency Directive, the recast Renewable Energy Directive (RED II), the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, and the Regulation on Governance of the Energy Union.

The four remaining legislative files all relate to energy markets; the revised Electricity Regulation, revised Electricity Directive, revised Regulation on a European Agency for the Co-operation of Energy Regulators (ACER), and a new Regulation on risk preparedness in the electricity sector.

Finding common ground on these pieces has proven difficult, with debates ongoing regarding capacity mechanisms. Capacity mechanisms support investments to fill capacity gaps and ensure a consistent energy supply, for example, by providing rewards to providers for maintaining or expanding capacity.

The European Parliament and Member States are still debating whether to limit capacity mechanisms so that they can only fund power plants that emit less than 550g of CO2 per kWh. This move would mean that countries could not provide capacity funding to coal power plants, which is being fiercely resisted by some member states.

Click to read more about the Clean Energy Package.

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