Energy package: clean energy for all Europeans

On 30 November 2016 the European Commission presented its plans for the next steps in the Energy Union to speed up the clean energy transition and boost growth and job creation in the EU. The package pursues three main goals: putting energy efficiency first, cementing the EU's global leadership in renewable energies and providing a fair deal for energy consumers.

The JRC has supported with scientific evidence the development of the legislative proposals on energy efficiency, electricity market and risk preparedness rules, as well as on the promotion of renewables and bioenergy sustainability policy. In the future, the JRC will continue its support for implementation and monitoring of EU energy policies and programmes.

Energy efficiency – what gets measured, gets done

The European Commission puts energy efficiency at the heart of its proposals to turn energy transition from a challenge into an economic and environmental opportunity. Energy that does not need to be produced and used is the cheapest and cleanest kind. The JRC supports EU energy efficiency efforts by monitoring the progress of EU Member States towards their energy consumption reduction targets and by assessing national energy efficiency action plans and annual reports, including national building renovation strategies.
The JRC also launched the European Energy Efficiency Platform to collect, validate and share data and knowledge from a rapidly growing energy efficiency market. Putting this knowledge at the fingertip of decision makers will help the implementation of legislation on energy efficiency, buildings performance and renewables.
The JRC also delivered scientific evidence in support of the Energy Efficiency Directive and the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive including on energy feedback systems, demand-response status, building renovation strategies, the setting up the EU Building stock observatory, methods to calculate energy savings, energy audits and management systems across the EU Member States, as well as guidelines on assessing the energy efficiency potential in the heating and cooling sector.

Achieving global leadership in renewable energies – it's the numbers that count

Bioenergy is renewable energy made available from materials derived from biological sources. In order for bioenergy to be considered as a renewable source of energy, it needs to be sustainable, which is why the establishment of sustainability criteria for bioenergy really matters. The proposed Renewable Energy Directive (recast) sets out clear sustainability criteria for bioenergy based on the JRC's work.
In particular, the JRC significantly contributed to the Commission impact assessment on the sustainability of bioenergy by, among others, performing the calculations of supply-chains greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the whole supply chains for a number of solid and gaseous bioenergy pathways, reviewing available literature, and expanding the scientific discussion beyond the common understanding. The JRC also verified the robustness of the studies provided to the Commission by external experts.
This contribution was based on the long-standing expertise of the JRC on the evaluation of biofuels' technological developments, on assessment of their environmental sustainability and climate change impacts, estimation of the land use change due to an increased biofuels demand, calculation of the direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions from biofuels, land use change and different bioenergy pathways. This expertise has supported the assessment of costs, benefits and impacts related with biofuels which have to be taken into account to ensure a well-balanced policy.
Finally, the JRC also contributed to the Accelerating Clean-Energy Innovation Communication in the Energy Union package. At the SET Plan Conference 2016, devoted in part to Clean Energy Innovation, the JRC will present its findings from the Strategic Energy Technologies Information System (SETIS) and its inputs to the 2017 State of the Energy Union report.

Providing a fair deal for consumers - market design matters

Assessing the reliability of electricity generation, or generation adequacy, provides an insight into the ability of electricity systems to meet energy demand from all customers in the long term, and as such it is key to evaluating the security of supply.
The JRC supported the development of a coordinated European adequacy assessment approach included in the new market and electricity security legislative proposals. A recent JRC report analyses existing generation adequacy assessments produced by Member States and ENTSO-E, identifying strengths and weaknesses, highlighting best practices and proposing methodological recommendations. Furthermore, the JRC, building upon its work on electricity security, substantially supported the drafting of the Proposal for a Regulation on risk-preparedness in the electricity sector.
The second edition of the "Report on energy prices and costs in Europe" – due every two years under the Energy Union Roadmap – is also part of the package. It provides an up-to-date overview of energy prices in electricity, gas and in the oil products sectors. The JRC contributed to the work with a study on production costs from energy intensive industries in the EU and third countries.