Edito

Last February, in his speech on the State of the Energy Union, European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič set the tone : 2018 would be the “year of engagement”, an intense legislative year where the European Union would adopt instruments and policies to make the Energy Union a reality in 2019. Now that the second semester has just begun, many files remain open : final negotiations on the Clean Energy Package, new ambitions for the reductions of emissions in the transport sector, long-term vision for the decarbonisation of the European economy ; the coming months will be decisive for the future of the European climate and energy policy. They also announce the beginning of an uncertain period for Europe with the launch of the campaign for the European elections, scheduled in May 2019, the exit of United Kingdom from the EU and the end of the Juncker Commission. Here is an update on the upcoming big deadlines…

Though the review of the French Low-Carbon Strategy (SNCB) is still ongoing, a first observation can already be made : in a carbon-neutral economy, electricity will play an important part among the range of solutions.

Today, greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector account for almost a quarter of European emissions. At the local level, air pollution, a problem that European cities are increasingly tackling, is responsible for 400,000 premature deaths per year[1]. Some other health consequences due to the transport sector, such as noise, are also often neglected[2]. Now more than ever, Europe must resolve this triple equation in order to reconcile mobility and environment when revising the Transport Regulations and Directives. At the same time, in France, the Mobility Forum (“Assises de la Mobilité”) has given way to the preparation of the Framework Bill on Mobility. As national and European issues are similar, solutions must complement each other. That is why national and European legislative work must therefore be carried out simultaneously in a spirit of integration.

While the first trilogues on the Renewable Energy and the Energy Efficiency Directives, as well as the Regulation on the Governance of the Energy Union will start this week, the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) of the Industry, Research and Energy Committee will adopt on February, 21st their position on the new electricity market design. The outcome of this vote is crucial : capacity mechanisms, short-term market reforms and consumer participation are at the core of the proposals on the table. However, despite the concerns raised by several delegations, some compromised amendments tabled by the rapporteur, Krisjanis Karins, put at risk the ability for Member States to guarantee the security of supply in Europe. UFE takes stock of the stakes for this vote and stresses the importance of extending the debate in the European Parliament...

Discussions on the Clean Energy Package reached a new stage. After the agreement found by Member States on four texts of the legislative package during the Energy Council on December 18th, MEPs also adopted their positions on the Energy Efficiency Directive, the Renewable Energy Directive and the Energy Union Governance Regulation, and gave rapporteurs a mandate to start interinstitutional negotiations with the Council. The call of the European Parliament is clear : sectorial energy objectives should be more ambitious. On the eve of trilogues on the Clean Energy Package, UFE summarized the positions of the European institutions and recalls the importance of the electricity market reform, a key file still in discussion at the European Parliament.

An exceptional year, an exceptional conference. 2017 was the year of political change in France, but also the one of future projects where the role of electricity will prove to be strategic : Pluriannual Environmental Planning, Mobility Forum “Assises de la Mobilité”, Conference of the Territories, Clean Energy Package... On December 5th, UFE’s Annual Conference, which received the High Patronage of the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron, tackled all these issues. With an audience of nearly 500 people, 36 high-level speakers from various backgrounds shared their vision of tomorrow’s world and their analysis of the challenges to face when t comes to the concrete implementation of the energy transition, change management, artificial intelligence, the role of territories in the increasing decentralization of energy management, digital transformation and cyber-security...

Since September 12th, the Regulatory Commission of Energy (CRE, the French national regulatory authority) has initiated a consultation cycle dedicated to electricity self-consumption. Following several meetings and workshops, CRE published, on the website autoconsommation.cre.fr , a first call for contribution on this same topic. This topic, at the centre of UFE’s strategic priorities, gathers producers and network system operators, as it is crucial for all of them to anticipate the impact of those evolutions on the ways to consume and produce electricity.

It would be stating the obvious to say that the world is undergoing major transformations with the digital revolution and the energy transition. In our sector, consumption habits are changing ; generation means are evolving and the whole customer relation is being transformed. UFE’S annual conference will take place on December 5th, under the high-patronage of Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic : do not miss three face-to-face discussions, with the best experts, on the key issues of innovation, decentralisation and cybersecurity !

Ten months after the publication of the “Clean Energy Package”, discussions in the Parliament and the Council are in the full swing. The Parliament is about to vote its first draft report in the ITRE committee this week –on the Energy Performance in buildings Directive – while the Council already adopted its general approach on the energy efficiency proposals last June. The French Union of Electricity underlines today the core issues for the French electricity sector and calls for French institutions to take action : the future of the French electricity system is now to be decided !

Thirty-five years after the Framework Law on Internal Transports (LOTI), the “Assises de la Mobilité” started on September 18th under the patronage of Elisabeth Bornes, French Transport Minister. This important public forum, which will contribute “to preparing the framework for mobility policies”, should aim to underline the major challenges of tomorrow’s mobility and ensure that the law will be a complete success. Thus, it is crucial to anticipate not only the needs and requirements to be satisfied but also the technologies that will be available. Considering that transport infrastructures represent long-term investments, a law with too little imagination might come off the road.