Publications - European Commission Electricity from renewable energy sources - Encouraging green electricity in Europe

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Website: ec.europa.eu/energy/res/legislation/electricity_en.htm




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Publications : Electricity



This 14 page full colour brochure (isbn 92-894-6666-9) was published by the European Commission, Directorate-General for Energy and Transport (TREN) in July 2004. It covers the following aspects of electricity generation from renewable sources:

• A directive to encourage cleaner electricity
• Green electricity in Europe - The context
• Strength in diversity and leadership in technology - green electricity sources in Europe.
• Explaining the directive
  National indicative targets
  Support schemes
  Grid issues
  Guarenteed green
  Less administration
• The next steps - To a greener electricity sector

The following extract is taken from the opening paragraphs:

This publication explains the background and content of the EU'S 2001 directive on the promotion of electricity produced fromrenewable energy sources in the internal electricity market, otherwise known as 'the RES-E directive. Formally this is described as Directive 2007/77/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the promotion of electricity produced from renewable energy sources in the internal electricity market (reference OJL 283,27.10.2001, p. 33).

RES-E is an acronym designating this directive as it concerns renewable energy sources used to generate electricity- thus RES-E in English. This electricity is known as green electricity' reflecting its environment-friendly origin.

The development of renewable energy sources is a central aim of European Union energy policy - reflecting the clear benefits that clean, sustainable and secure energy supplies will bring to current and future generations of Europeans, as well as other peoples world-wide:

• Clean - because they reduce the pollution that scars our cities and countryside.
• Sustainable - because they are renewable and do not contribute to the build up of greenhouse gases that cause climate change.
• Secure - because they are sourced within Europe, not imported, and thus they reduce our dependency on events elsewhere in the world that we cannot control.

However these clear benefits are not enough to ensure that renewable energy power plants produce green electricity and supply it through the transmission grid to peoples homes and workplaces. It should not be forgotten that no energy source, whether carbon-based, petroleum-based or nuclear, has ever been developed without the determined support of the public authorities. Therefore, actively promoting renewable energy sources for electricity generation is the aim of the AES-E directive.

Since the adoption of the RES-E directive in 2001, implementation of its provisions has progressed. A comprehensive EU regulatory framework is in place and Member States have adopted national targets for green electricity consumption and are working towards them. The administrative and grid access barriers to the growth of renewable energy sources use need to be removed at European, national and local levels.

Europe leads the world in the technology of renewable energy and plays an important role in understanding and building the appropriate institutional support structures to promote a sustainable market for green electricity. The RES-E directive, explained in this booklet, is one of the key legislative foundation stones on which Europe's renewable energy sector is being built today.

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