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ECN publication
Title:
Renewable electricity and liberalising markets: phase 1: inception report
 
Author(s):
 
Published by: Publication date:
ECN Policy Studies 1-3-1999
 
ECN report number: Document type:
ECN-C--99-007 ECN publication
 
Number of pages: Full text:
112 Download PDF  

Abstract:
The Renewable Electricity and Liberalised Markets (REALM) project(contract No. JOR3CT-98-0290) is a project with a contribution from the European Commission Directorate for Research and Development. It aims to systematically investigate the position of renewable electricity against the background of liberalising markets from the perspective of the electricity sector. The project started in May 1998 and will be concluded in October 1999. Participants come from six different European countries: UK, The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Greece and Austria. The first task of the project has been to make an inventory of the state of liberalisation and renewable energy policies in the participating countries. For this purpose each partner in the project has produced country Briefing Papers with detailed information on the state of electricity liberalisation and renewables in each of the six partner countries. The briefing papers (a) describe the background and position of renewable energy in the electricity sector of each partner country, (b) describe the process and the driving forces in electricity sector liberalisation, (c) identify the background, basic concerns, expectations and interests of the utility partners, and (d) outline the project partners' ideas on survey strategies. This report reflects the contents of these Country Briefing Papers, which are added integrally as attachments. The inception report has functioned as a starting point for the other activities in the project: (1) Baseline Survey among the European Electricity Utilities, (2) Risk and Opportunity analysis for the European Electricity Utilities, (3) Individual Country/Utility Position Papers, and (4) Integrated European Renewable Electricity Action Plan. The findings of this report can be summarised as follows: (A) All partner countries have liberalised, or are in the process of liberalisation well beyond the EU directive (i.e. Member States are liberalising more rapidly and to a further extent than set out in the electricity directive); (B) Liberalisation provides utilities with a range of risks, benefits and opportunities; (C) Some countries are further along the liberalisation path than others. However, 'liberalisation' means different things in different countries; (D) There is a variety of incentive schemes for renewables within the member states of the European Union. The same is true for the degree of penetration of renewables; and (E) There are various definitions of what counts as renewable electricity in the different member states. Sometimes there are even different definitions within member states. 34 refs.


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