COGEN Europe acknowledges the strong encouragement for cogeneration in the European Commission’s legislative proposal on the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED). In addition, our sector considers legislation continuity, and its subsequent investment security corollary, as vital for CHP stakeholders, therefore we support the provisions contained in article 12. 

The priority of access and priority of dispatch provision contained in par. 5 of article 12 “Energy transmission and distribution” carry forward provisions of the existing CHP Directive 2004/8/EC and bring them in line with current legislation.

This re-establishes links broken in the intervening progression of legislation.

Background:

The legislators of the CHP Directive 2004/8/EC recognized that the efficiency of CHP relies on the use of both the heat and the electricity produced. Cogeneration is heat led: supplying a school, hospital or industry with heat, hence the electricity which is simultaneously generated must either be used locally or put on the grid for general use so that the process maintains high efficiency. Renewables have a similar logical requirement for access and dispatch of the renewable electricity when it is available. The CHP Directive 2004/8/EC invokes the appropriate provisions of the then contemporary RES-Electricity Directive 2001/77/EC and the internal market in electricity Directive 2003/54/EC giving guaranteed access and priority for cogenerated electricity onto the electricity grid.

Certainty for stakeholder must be reinstated:

The entry into force of both the new RES Directive 2009/28/EC and of the internal market in electricity Directive 2009/72/EC have introduced the deletion of articles referenced in the article 8 of the Directive 2004/8/EC (article 7 of Directive 2001/77/EC -effective since April 2010- and the repeal of the whole Directive 2003/54/EC -effective since March 2011).

This progression has left the legislative framework at European level unclear for CHP stakeholders and National Regulatory Authorities alike. Paragraph 5 of article 12 of the EED reinstates clarity for all stakeholders based on the spirit of the original legislation.

COGEN Europe is the European association for the promotion of cogeneration. 11% of Europe’s electricity is provided by cogeneration plants today. COGEN Europe represents 70 members which are National COGEN organisations, Pan European Companies and associated members and the interests of 100,000 European employees in the cogeneration sectors. The EU has a large unexploited cogeneration potential that is economical but not realized due to market and regulatory barriers.

The European Association for the Promotion of Cogeneration

Avenue des Arts 3-4-5, 1210 Brussels

Belgium Tel: +32 2 772 82 90 • Fax: +32 2 772 50 44 • Email: info@cogeneurope.eu • Web: http://www.cogeneurope.eu