COGEN Europe takes note of the agreement reached yesterday during

the trialogue on the adoption of the Directive on Energy Efficiency

while highlighting the mixed outcome for the transformation sector. 

After almost one year of intense negotiations, the cogeneration sector takes note of

the informal agreement reached on the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) by Council

and Parliament. COGEN Europe questions the end result of the proposed European

legislative framework with regard to achieving Europe’s 20% energy efficiency target

by 2020, particularly in the transformation sector.

On the one hand, COGEN Europe recognises that the planning of heat and power

proposed in Article 10 could alert Member States to the significant efficiency

benefits of this approach in the longer term. On the other hand, this approach is fully

bound to the quality of the implementation process in Member States. At this point

the realisation of the 25 MToe primary energy savings identified under the

Commission’s Impact Assessment is far from being within reach.

The same mixed result exists in the broader Directive. The provisions on the

promotion of CHPs below 20MW - and notably micro-CHP units -, the removal of

administrative burdens, and some forward looking requirements on demand

response are potentially useful if deployed effectively at Member State level.

However, an important concern for the cogeneration sector is that access to the grid

and priority of dispatch provisions for cogenerated electricity in Article 12 are now

weaker than in the original CHP Directive and in the original Commission proposal.

This is a major challenge particularly for the large industrial CHPs which today supply

low carbon heat and electricity in key economic sectors and which Europe needs to

include wholly in its future energy and low carbon planning.

Fiona Riddoch, Managing Director, commented “the CHP sector was anticipating a

stronger directive. We think the EU has missed an opportunity to bring the energy

efficiency legislation on an equal level footing of ambition with the other climate and

energy legislation. There is clearly still a policy gap which becomes more pressing for

energy efficiency after 2020. A more integrated approach to energy planning could

help Europe achieve its 2050 goals and the CHP principle has a key role to play.” 

Notes: 

 Existing policy and the new EED combined are likely to deliver maybe 15%

savings by 2020; 

 On average 11% of Europe’s electricity today is generated in CHP mode as is

15% of its delivered heat; 

 During the implementation of the CHP Directive 2004/8/EC, the Member

States themselves have identified over 100GWe of untapped economic CHP

potential in Europe. 

For more information please contact:  

Dr Fiona Riddoch, Managing Director

Tel: +32 2 772 8290

Fax: + 32 2 772 5044

Email: fiona.riddoch@cogeneurope.eu 

END

Stefan Craenen, Communications Manager

Tel: +32 2 772 8290

Fax: + 32 2 772 5044

Email: stefan.craenen@cogeneurope.eu

About cogeneration: 

Cogeneration (also known as CHP or Combined Heat and Power) is the simultaneous

production of heat and electricity. 11% of Europe’s electricity and associated heat

requirements today are produced using this proven energy efficiency principle. The estimated growth potential for cogeneration is a further 110-120 GWe which will lead to an improved environment and greater economic competitiveness in Europe. Cogeneration units can be found in different sizes and applications: industry, households and tertiary sector and spans applications with capacities ranging from below 1kw to hundreds of Megawatts. It is a highly efficient energy solution that delivers energy savings and substantial reductions in CO emissions. When seriously supported, as in Denmark, CHP has the potential to increase the energy production and transformation system overall efficiency from a bare 33% (EU average) up to 65%. Realising the potential of cogeneration in Europe will contribute significantly to reaching the strategic climate and energy goals, such as security of supply, energy efficiency and reduction of emissions. 

About COGEN Europe:

COGEN Europe is the European association for the promotion of cogeneration. We represent

70 organisations which are National COGEN Associations, manufacturers, users, utilities and

service companies. Currently around 100,000 Europeans are employed in the cogeneration

sector. More info on www.cogeneurope.eu