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IFIEC Europe NewsletterJanuary 2019

In This Issue

IFIEC Europe News

EU Industry Days 2019

IFIEC Workshop

IFIEC Annual Report

WPCE indirect

EU Brussels News

Politico EU infographs

EP talks climate

strategy

Market design

National News

FEBELIEC Energy

Forum

German Coal phase

out

Portugal 47% RES

compensation

response

Brussels Events

overview

Energy Prices Report

Madrid Forum

summary

EU Energy

Infrastructure

Aluminium and SDGs

IFIEC Europe News

The European Commission is organising 'EU Industry Days' for the third time on 5-6 February 2019 in Brussels. Like the previous event, Industry

General Information:   

Days 2019 will be a high-level conference featuring key political speakers and experts from various industrial spheres, as well as sessions organised by industrial stakeholders. IFIEC was given a prestigious stakeholder workshop slot on 5 February, taking place from 16.20h until 18.00h. Over 300 persons registered to this workshop which is titled “Energy Intensive Industries - Innovating for a sustainable future”.

The workshop will feature short presentations by IFIEC President Steinar Solheim, Tomas Wyns (senior lecturer at VUB University) on his recent EII decarbonisation study and European Commission Director of DG CLIMA Artur Runge Metzger who will present the new EU 2050 climate strategy and then take on the role of panel discussion moderator. The panel will be joined by Aneta Muskala (Director of Finance of International Paper) and Dr. Brigitta Huckestein (Senior Energy & Climate Manager at BASF) who will provide insights on how their companies and sectors reduce carbon emissions in view of contemporary challenges, market and political developments. 

Conference website

EU 2050 Climate Strategy

EIIs   Tomas Wyns   study

IFIEC Network attending:

 Steinar Solheim

 Hans Grünfeld  

 Nicolas de Warren

 Pasi Kuokkanen

 Peter Claes

 Giuseppe Pastorino

 Thierry Lemoyne

 Rønnaug Mysterud

 Michaël   Van Bossuytand many more...!

IFIEC Europe Annual Report 2018 available 

The IFIEC Europe Annual Report 2018 is available now in print and the digital format will be put on-line on the IFIEC website on the second week of February. The Annual report provides an overview of the organisation, its structure and its accomplishments over the course of 2018. A valuable tool to be used within IFIEC and member federations, it is equally useful as a modern "business card" for introducing IFIEC during external contacts. Member federations will soon receive copies via post. Others can request a copy via the IFIEC secretariat. 

WPCE response on indirect CO2 cost compensation

IFIEC Europe's Working Party Climate & Efficiency submitted on 17 January a response to the public consultation on the EC impact assessment on the revision of the Guidelines on certain State aid measures in the context of the greenhouse gas emission allowance trading system post-2020.

EU Member States can compensate some companies in sectors with high electricity consumption (electro-intensive users), for part of the higher electricity costs arising from the EU emissions trading scheme. The compensation minimises the risk of carbon leakage, which occurs when emission costs cause EU companies to relocate their production to non-EU countries that have less ambitious climate measures. The rules allowing for compensation will be updated to ensure that they are adapted to the new emissions trading scheme for 2021-2030.

The IFIEC response   can be downloaded here

Relevant upcoming Stakeholder Events in Brussels

5 February: 4th EU-Norway Energy Conference

5 February: Nuclear Power – Asset or Barrier for the Energy Transition?

13 February: Roadmaps are ready: now what?   Exploring the realities of the heat transition

18 February: Gas as an integral part of the EU decarbonisation strategy: which sources, challenges and perspectives (with IFIEC speaker/Valentin Höhn)

20 February: Free Webinar on "Highlights from Bioenergy Europe's 2018 Statistical Report"

20 February: Adapting to Climate Change: are our solutions working?

27 February: Carbon Leakage: What Challenges for Energy-Intensive Industries under the EU’s Decarbonisation Roadmap? 

6-7 March: Circular Economy Stakeholder Conference

EU Brussels NewsA series of pre-EU elections infographs by Politico

A new series of intriguing political infographs have been put online by the EU news-agency Politico. Many of the infographs depict visual forecasts on the upcoming European elections. They can be found here: POLITICO INFOGRAPHS

One infograph in particular, portrays quite a telling story: Europe is still an entity united in diversity. Every Member State and its respective citizens have very different concerns. We can clearly see that "climate" issues dominate in the West and North-Western countries, while Central, Eastern and Southern Member States are worried

mainly by migration and Economic growth.  

EU Parliament Hearing on 2050 Climate Strategy 

On 29 January IFIEC attended the European Parliament Environment (ENVI) Committee public hearing on the new EU 2050 Climate Strategy. The ENVI Committee is currently drafting a motion for resolution, to be adopted on 20 February. The hearing and resolution will launch the EP debate on the Commission's proposed pathways as well as the necessary steps to be taken at EU and national levels. Speakers included EU Climate Commissioner Arias Cañete, COP24 President and Secretary of State at the Polish Environment Ministry Michal Kurtyka, CEFIC Director General Marco Mensink.

Some highlights:

The Commissioner stated that raising the 2030 targets would be pointless if there are no policies behind them. Many Member States are not delivering on the existing renewable and energy efficiency targets, which is the priority.  

Green/Leftist MEPs want the EU to announce higher levels of ambition at the UN Sec Gen summit in September 2019.

Polish Secretary of State Kurtyka underlined the need for a "just transition" and that the focus would need to be on implementation, feasibility and social acceptance of what has been agreed, at least until the first stocktaking in 2023.      

On the 2050 Strategy, the Commissioner stated that it is not a legislative proposal or

 

Agenda of the Hearing

Video of the Public Hearing (starting from 15.30h)

Euractiv article on ENVI climate resolution (29 Jan)

Euractiv Special Report

plan of action but a "robust point of departure for further discussion". In February the Commission will visit national governments to discuss. 

On industrial policy, the Commissioner stated that "yes, it is an attempt to restructure industry not only so that it is carbon-free, but also competitive." 

"Cañete: climate neutral EU is needed" (31 Jan.)

CEFIC's Marko Mensink stated that industry is asking for a concrete plan for industrial transformation. Competition, trade, innovation and industrial policy would need to be combined into one single industrial strategy. Such a "master plan" can be delivered by industry but would need to be properly elevated by the EU. It would also require shifting attention away from the power sector (i.e. EU ETS) towards energy intensive manufacturing industries.

Mensink stated that the industry needs for 2050 decarbonisation are very challenging, requiring numerous breakthrough technologies, a merging of the circular and low-carbon economies (i.e. recycling in the chemical sector) and solutions for the exorbitant increase of demand for electricity (without cost increase). He stated that the steel and chemical sectors demand is expected to be 5 times Germany’s total electricity consumption of today. He also mentioned infrastructure: grids, pipelines, interconnections as well as legislation and financing to enable it all.

EU Electricity Market Design in the bigger picture 

A new useful visual overview prepared by law firm Bird&Bird does a great job in explaining electricity market design in the context of the different EU clean energy package files, the market and the different electricity market concepts.

A highly useful overview, it can be downloaded here.

Report on Energy Prices and Costs in

Europe 2018

On 9 January, the European Commission published "Energy Prices and Costs in Europe 2018". The extensive report shows how increasing competition on wholesale energy markets through increase in RES, improved interconnections and a more integrated internal electricity market have led to lower wholesale prices in recent years. The report warns of the EU's ongoing high exposure to volatile and growing fossil fuel prices and notes that wholesale prices have started to rise again. Figures also indicate that future electricity production costs are expected to increase for fossil fuel electricity and fall for renewables, suggesting that future electricity market prices could reduce the need for subsidising renewable energy technologies by 2030.

Importantly, the report also analyses the impact of energy costs on international competitiveness of energy-intensive industries. 

Click here for the report

CEPS 2018 study on prices in energy intensive industries

Video summary of the recent Madrid Gas Forum

A video that was prepared and uploaded by the Florence School of Regulation shows an interesting interview with Klaus Dieter Borchardt from the European Commission's DG Energy. Borchardt had recently visited an IFIEC board meeting and also worked with IFIEC experts at the last Madrid Gas Forum, which together with the upcoming Gas Package are the focus of the video interview. In the video, Borchardt also refers to IFIEC in relation to the tasks agreed at the last Forum. 

 

Click here for the video

EU invests €800M in priority energy infrastructure

On 23 January, EU Member States voted on a Commission proposal to invest almost €800 million in key European energy infrastructure projects with major cross-border benefits: 

 

€323 million for the Baltic electricity synchronisation project. The project aims to increase the security of supply and reliability of the power systems in the region.

€91 million on smart grids, approving the support for the ACON SG project to modernize and improve the power grid between the Czech and Slovak Republics. 

€6.5 million for a study on the development of a CO2 infrastructure in the Port of Rotterdam. 

€215 million for the Baltic Pipe project, a bi-directional offshore gas interconnection between Poland and Denmark.

 

The EU funding comes from the Connecting Europe Facility.

 

Read official EU CommissionPress Release

Aluminium and the Sustainable Development Goals

On 30 January, European Aluminium presented a report on "Connecting the Sustainability Roadmap 2025 and the SDGs" in collaboration with CSR Europe. European Aluminium has worked with its members to link the industry’s strategic sustainability ambitions closer to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 and to further prioritise material issues for the European aluminium industry. European Aluminium has partnered with CSR Europe, Europe’s leading business network for Corporate Social Responsibility, to analyse its Sustainability Roadmap 2025. Together, they looked at common goals, shared actions, mapped out trends as well as risks and opportunities for the sector.    Click  here   for the report

National NewsFEBELIEC Energy Forum attracts record numbers

The Belgian Industrial Energy Consumers Federation FEBELIEC organised its 5th edition of its Energy Forum on 29 January. With over 130 participants, the Forum and the various sessions and presentations showed strong involvement and interest from the federation's membership community. The event was expertly moderated by its Managing Director and Senior Advisor, Peter Claes and Michaël van Bossuyt, who each guided through two expert panels - one on gas and the other on electricity market design. For the fourth year in a row, the FEBELIEC Energy award was awarded to a project, concept or idea that may contribute to the solution of the energy problems to which Belgian industry is facing. This year it went to Smappee Infinity - a smart energy monitoring system which on the basis of existing technologies, is future-oriented, based on customer needs and provides intelligent energy consumption solutions. Finally, congratulations to Peter, Michaël and Marie-Pierre for the succesful organisation!

IFIEC WP Gas Chair Valentin Höhn opened the Gas session

 

FEBELIEC Website

Germany's Coal Commission presents decision

On Saturday, 26 January 2019, a final round of discussions ended with Germany's independent coal commission finalizing its recommendations to shut down 25% of the country's coal power capacity by 2022 and to reduce it to 33% by 2030. The conclusions state that the last coal plant has to be closed by 2038, with the option of possibly advancing the deadline to 2035.

The Rhine area lignite production would be phased out first, then the hard coal in Eastern Germany. Compensation packages would be made available to support coal-dependent regions in their transition. If the recommendations are accepted by the Federal Government, the 2022 targets would mean that Germany's electricity grid reduces its carbon emissions by around 45% on 1990 levels. 

Portugal's ambitious climate and energy targets 

Portugal is one of seven Member States that missed the deadline to submit their Draft National Energy & Climate plans to the European Commission by the end of 2018, according   to Euractiv . However, on Monday 28 January, the Portuguese government showed that the wait was worth it and presented a national energy and climate plan that sets ambitious 2030 targets at 47% renewable energy, a 35% improvement in energy efficiency and a 45% to 55% cut in greenhouse gas emissions compared to 2005. The plan lays out how the country's renewable capacity is to double to 80% of the overall energy mix and coal-fired electricity is to be phased out by 2030. Instead, wind capacity is projected to increase by 66% and solar generation by 1200%. 

Upcoming IFIEC Meetings 

6 February 2019: Working Party Electricity, Avenue Louise 250, 11-16.00h

19 February 2019: Working Party Climate & Efficiency, Avenue Louise 250, 11-15.30h

20 February 2019: Board Meeting, Avenue Louise 250, 11-15.30h

9 April 2019: Working Party Climate & Efficiency, Avenue Louise 250, 11-15.30h

10 April 2019: Management Committee, Avenue Louise 250, 11-15.30h

11 April 2019: Working Party Electricity, Norway House, 11-16.00h

14 May 2019: Board Meeting, Avenue Louise 250, 11-15.30h

13 June 2019: General Assembly, Avenue Louise 250, 11-15.30h

19 June 2019: Working Party Electricity, Avenue Louise 250, 11-16.00h

2 July 2019: Working Party Climate & Efficiency, Avenue Louise 250, 11-15.30h

10 July 2019: Management Committee, Avenue Louise 250, 11-15.30h

11 September 2019: Management Committee, Avenue Louise 250, 11-15.30h

17 September 2019: Working Party Climate & Efficiency, Avenue Louise 250, 11-15.30h

18 September 2019: Working Party Electricity, Avenue Louise 250, 11-

16.00h

15 October 2019: Board Meeting, Avenue Louise 250, 11-15.30h

16 October 2019: Energy Forum, TBC 

12 November 2019: Working Party Climate & Efficiency, Avenue Louise 250, 11-15.30h

13 November 2019: Working Party Electricity, Avenue Louise 250, 11-15.30h

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