Activity Report 2012 - Eurelectric

10 years EU­Russia/CIS
cooperation
Amid growing interdependence between the EU and
Russia, EURELECTRIC is working to promote bilateral
trade through converging electricity markets. On 31
October EURELECTRIC, together with the Electric Power
Council of the Confederation of Independent States
(EPC CIS), held a joint high-level conference in Brussels
to celebrate the 10 th anniversary of the cooperation
between the two organisations. Security of supply,
cross-border electricity trade, infrastructure projects,
and environmental cooperation were the key topics
discussed. The joint report outlining key differences
and obstacles to electricity trade in the nordic/Baltic/
Russia/Belarus region received support from all three
high-level speakers: Russian Energy Minister Alexander
novak, EU Commissioner for Energy Günther Oettinger,
and EURELECTRIC President Fulvio Conti (pictured).
Speakers also discussed future priorities and challenges
in EU-Russia/CIS electricity relations. Many speakers
from both the EU and Russia recognised the need for
converging electricity market rules, and the need to
develop bi-directional trade, improve TSO cooperation
in grid infra structure planning and operation, and foster
transparency.
in brief
State aid consultation
In autumn 2012, the European Commission published
a consultation on state aid for environmental protection
and environmental support measures, following the
announcement in May of its intention to finalise, by
end 2013, an ambitious state aid reform programme.
EURELECTRIC’s response highlighted that the revision
of the state aid guidelines is an important opportunity
to develop a legal and regulatory framework that allows
a market-compatible and concurrent de velopment of
renewable and con ventional power in Europe. Renewable
energy sources need to be integrated into the energy
market in order to create a competitive level playing
field for all power generation technologies. In this
perspective, EURELECTRIC urged the Commission to
assess whether current renewable support in Europe
strikes the right balance between environ mental
protection and fair competition. These considerations
should apply to state aid for power generation (e.g. use
of ETS revenues, tax benefits, etc.) but also to other
measures that have similar effects (e.g. feed-in tariffs
or certificate schemes).
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