Introduction

Summary

The European Energy Law Report XIII presents an overview of the most important developments in the field of International, European Union (EU) and national energy and climate law as discussed at the 29th and 30th European Energy Law Seminars, which were held on 22–23 January 2018 and on 21–22 January 2019, respectively, in The Hague, the Netherlands. Although a wide range of topics and developments were discussed at the seminars, we recognise that the common thread is the liberalisation of the energy market in combination with the increased use of renewable energy sources (RES). New types of RES are being introduced and more and more often they take the form of distributed energy sources. As a result, new market parties are gradually emerging, which play an increasingly important role as providers of flexibility services. However, changes are also taking place with regard to traditional RES, i.e. hydropower. Countries like Norway, France, Italy and Portugal, where hydropower has traditionally played an important role, are currently assessing the existing legal regime and the extent to which these markets need to be further liberalised or even privatised. The energy transition process is thus faced with new investments, which can take many shapes and forms. One of them is using Guarantees of Origin (GOs), a certificate-based tracking system for electricity generation attributes. In addition, the European Commission has presented a Regulation that aims at the screening of foreign direct investments into the EU. However, the process of energy transition has also led to an opposite development: the closure of coal-fired power plants and nuclear facilities due to climate change or environmental concerns. Closely related to the latter is the issue of the decommissioning of oil and gas installations in the North Sea. Although the issue of ‘decommissioning’ involves the removal of disused installations, coastal states are faced with the need to balance economic and environmental interests when deciding about the extent to which installations need to be removed.