Co-op News September 2021

18 | SEPTEMBER 2021
EUROPE
REScoop responds to EC draft state aid guidelines on green energy
The European federation of citizen energy
co-operatives (REScoop) has responded to
the European Commission’s consultation
on the draft revised Guidelines on State
aid for Environmental Protection and
Energy (CEEAG) 2014-2020.
Published in June, the draft guidelines
set out the conditions under which
state aid for energy and environmental
protection can be allowed under the
Single Market.
REScoop, which is a network of 1.900
European energy co-operatives and their
1.25 million citizens, argues the new draft
guidelines fail to align with the EU’s the
Clean Energy for All Europeans legislative
package (CEP).
“The legal framework for RECs created
by the CEP intended to remedy market
failures and create favourable policy
and legal environments so that RECs can
grow at the national level. Unfortunately,
the new draft Guidelines on State aid for
climate, environmental protection and
energy (CEEAG) do little to align with the
CEP’s approach.
“The CEEAG need to provide clear
and positive guidance, so that Member
States are able to innovate in designing
renewables support schemes that can
help jump-start community ownership
of renewables production in their energy
markets,” warns the apex.
REScoop also pointed out that the
existing 2014 Guidelines on State aid for
Environmental Protection and Energy
(EEAG) had contributed towards a
number of barriers to the development of
renewable energy co-operatives (RECs),
such as an uneven level playing field for
RECs due to an emphasis on competitive
bidding for renewables support and an
“insufficient recognition of the different
factual and legal situation of smaller
and non-commercial market actors, in
particular RECs.”
The apex adds that the draft guidelines
do not acknowledge the market failures
that prevent communities from taking
more ownership in the renewables sector
or take into account the challenges small
and non-commercial market actors face to
access market-based competitive bidding
procedures.
It also argues that the guidance should
“balance cost-efficiency and other marketbased
outcomes against other social policy
considerations such as inclusiveness and
public acceptance”.
To address these issues, REScoop
suggests, among others, dedicated
provisions on RECs acknowledging their
unique market position and challenges
as non-commercial market actors;
increased thresholds to exempt RECs
and other small renewables production
installations from having to participate
in competitive bidding procedures; clear
and concrete guidance to help Member
States integrate RECs into their support
schemes; and simpler administrative
burdens on Member States that want to
create dedicated support for RECs in their
national renewables support scheme.
The guidelines should also recognise the
social impacts on local communities from
renewable energy projects, and establish
supportive provisions on the integration
of social criteria into competitive bidding
procedures for renewables, adds REScoop.
REScoop’s reaction echoed that of the
European Community Power Coalition,
a network of over 40 associations,
which has also criticised the European
Commission for ignoring Renewable
Energy Communities in its latest draft
state aid guidelines.
The Coalition wants the draft guidelines
changed to include provisions and
references to RECs to make sure that
competition law supports the green
transition, rather than forming a barrier
to it.