Activities of Gabriele PREUSS related to 2016/0382(COD)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (recast)
Amendments (47)
Amendment 40 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 2 a (new)
Recital 2 a (new)
(2a) Greenhouse gas emissions reductions are of critical importance for the future of our planet; however they should not compete with other environment protection goals nor with improving air quality in general.
Amendment 40 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 15
Recital 15
(15) Support schemes for electricity generated from renewable sources have proved to be an effective way of fostering deployment of renewable electricity. If and when Member States decide to implement support schemes, such support should be provided in a form that is as non-distortive as possible for the functioning of electricity marketsfocuses on the inclusion of low-income households in order to address energy poverty. To this end, an increasing number of Member States allocate support in a form where support is granted in addition to market revenues.
Amendment 42 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 3
Recital 3
(3) In particular, increasing technological improvements, incentives for the use and expansion of public transport, the use of energy efficiency technologies and the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources in the electricity, heating and cooling sectors as well as in the transport sector as well as energy intensive industries (so called sectoral integration) are very effective tools, together with energy efficiency measures, for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the Union and the Union's dependence on imported gas and oil.
Amendment 45 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 18
Recital 18
(18) Without prejudice to adaptations of support schemes to bring them in line with State aid rules, renewables support policies should be stable and avoid frequent and retroactive changes. Such changes have a direct impact on capital financing costs, the costs of project development and therefore on the overall cost of deploying renewables in the Union. Member States should prevent the revision of any support granted to renewable energy projects from having a negative impact on their economic viability. In this context, Member States should promote cost-effective support policies, maintain a stable and transparent policy framework to advertise investment and ensure their financial sustainability.
Amendment 46 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 19
Recital 19
(19) Member States' obligations to draft renewable energy action plans and progress reports and the Commission's obligation to report on Member States' progress are essential in order to increase transparency, provide clarity to investors and consumeconsumers and investors and allow for effective monitoring. Regulation [Governance] integrates those obligations in the Energy Union governance system, where planning, reporting and monitoring obligations in the energy and climate fields are streamlined. The transparency platform on renewable energy is also integrated in the broader e- platform established in Regulation [Governance].
Amendment 47 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 37
Recital 37
(37) Lengthy administrative procedures constitute a major administrative barrier and are costly. The simplification of permit-granting processes, associated with a clear time-limit for the decision to be taken by the respective authorities regarding the construction of the project should stimulate a more efficient handling of procedures thus reducing administrative costs. Establishing shorter time limits for granting projects and improving the notification procedure would improve transparency for permit applicants.
Amendment 49 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 7
Recital 7
(7) It is thus appropriate to establish a Union binding target of at least 2735% share of renewable energy. Member States should define their contribution to the achievement of this target as part of their Integrated National Energy and Climate Plans through the governance process set out in Regulation [Governance].
Amendment 49 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 53 a (new)
Recital 53 a (new)
(53a) Since energy poverty affects around 11% of the population of the Union, renewable energy policies have an essential role to play in addressing energy poverty and consumer vulnerability;
Amendment 50 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 53 b (new)
Recital 53 b (new)
(53b) Member States should therefore guarantee to support proactive policies that focus especially on low-income households at risk of energy poverty or in social housing;
Amendment 55 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 10
Recital 10
(10) Member States should take additional measures in the event that the share of renewables at the Union level does not meet the Union trajectory towards the at least 2735% renewable energy target. As set out in Regulation [Governance], if an ambition gap is identified by the Commission during the assessment of the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plans, the Commission may take measures at Union level in order to ensure the achievement of the target. If a delivery gap is identified by the Commission during the assessment of the Integrated National Energy and Climate Progress Reports, Member States should apply the measures set out in Regulation [Governance], which are giving them enough flexibility to choose.
Amendment 61 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 20
Recital 20
(20) It is necessary to set comprehensive, transparent and unambiguous rules for calculating the share of energy from renewable sources and for defining those sources.
Amendment 67 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 4 – paragraph 1
Article 4 – paragraph 1
1. Subject to State aid rules, iIn order to reachfulfil the Union target set in Article 3(1), Member States may apply support schemes. Support schemes for electricity from renewable sources shall be designed sto as to avoid unnecessary distortions of electricity marketssist renewable self- consumes and renewable energy communities, but especially to help low- income households affected by energy poverty and ensure that producers take into account the supply and demand of electricity as well as possible grid constraints.
Amendment 68 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 4 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 4 – paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Member States shall avoid any retroactive change to renewable energy support schemes. Therefore Member States shall also ensure legal certainty for consumers and investors to establish a strong and transparent legal framework.
Amendment 71 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 4 – paragraph 2
Article 4 – paragraph 2
2. Support for electricity from renewable sources shall be designed soto assist renewable self-consumers and renewable energy communities, but especially to help low-income households affected by energy poverty as well as to integrate electricity from renewable sources in the electricity market and ensure that renewable energy producers are responding to market price signals and maximise their market revenues.
Amendment 73 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 45
Recital 45
(45) It is important to provide information on how the supported electricity is allocated to final customers. In order to improve the quality of that information to consumers, Member States should ensure that guarantees of origin are issued for all units of renewable energy produced. In addition, with a view to avoiding double compensation, renewable energy producers already receiving financial support should not receive guarantees of origin. However, those guarantees of origin should be used for disclosure so that final consumers can receive clear, reliable and adequate evidence on the renewable origin of the relevant units of energy. Moreover, for renewable electricity that received support, the guarantees of origin should be auctioned to the market and the revenues should be used to reduce public subsidies for renewable energy.
Amendment 79 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 6 – paragraph 1
Article 6 – paragraph 1
Amendment 80 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 6 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 6 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Member States shall ensure that any modification of support schemes is made public at least 12 months before its entry into force and is subject to a transparent and inclusive public consultation process. Any substantial change to an existing support scheme shall include an adequate transitional period before the new support scheme enters into force.
Amendment 81 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 62
Recital 62
(62) The European Strategy for a low- carbon mobility of July 2016 pointed out that fstrong incentives need to be provided to innovate in energies needed for the long-term decarbonisation of transport, such as electro-mobility, advanced biofuels and other alternative renewable fuels. It is also important to keep in mind that all fuels have their benefits and disadvantages, and therefore a diverse mix is necessary. Food-based biofuels have a limited role in decarbonising the transport sector and should be gradually phased out and replaced by advanced biofuels. To prepare for the transition towards advanced biofuels and minimise the overall indirect land-use change impacts, it is appropriate to reduce the amount of biofuels and bioliquids produced from food and feed crops that can be counted towards the Union target set out in this Directive.
Amendment 81 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 6 – paragraph 1 b (new)
Article 6 – paragraph 1 b (new)
Member States shall guarantee that projects supported receive adequate compensation, when the rights and economics are significantly affected by other regulatory changes which impact energy projects in a discriminatory manner.
Amendment 91 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 6 a (new)
Recital 6 a (new)
(6a) National binding targets have been straightforward measurable indicators against which progress can be measured to assess the effectiveness of the measures included in this Directive.
Amendment 94 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 71
Recital 71
(71) The production of agricultural raw material for biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels, and the incentives for their use provided for in this Directive, should respect sustainable production criteria, and should not have the effect of encouraging the destruction of biodiverse lands. Such finite resources, recognised in various international instruments to be of value to all mankind, should be preserved. It is therefore necessary to provide sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions savings criteria ensuring that biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels qualify for the incentives only when it is guaranteed that the agricultural raw material does not originate in biodiverse areas or, in the case of areas designated for nature protection purposes or for the protection of rare, threatened or endangered ecosystems or species, the relevant competent authority demonstrates that the production of the agricultural raw material does not interfere with such purposes. Forests should be considered as biodiverse according to the sustainiability criteria, where they are primary forests in accordance with the definition used by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) in its Global Forest Resource Assessment, or where they are protected by national nature protection law. Areas where the collection of non-wood forest products occurs should be considered to be biodiverse forests, provided the human impact is small. Other types of forests as defined by the FAO, such as modified natural forests, semi- natural forests and plantations, should not be considered as primary forests. Having regard, furthermore, to the highly biodiverse nature of certain grasslands, both temperate and tropical, including highly biodiverse savannahs, steppes, scrublands and prairies, biofuels , bioliquids and biomass fuels made from agricultural raw materials originating in such lands should not qualify for the incentives provided for by this Directive. The Commission should establish appropriate criteria to define such highly biodiverse grasslands in accordance with the best available scientific evidence and relevant international standards.
Amendment 101 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 15 – paragraph 3
Article 15 – paragraph 3
3. Member States shall ensure that investors have sufficient predictability of the planned support for energy from renewable sources. To this aim, Member States shall define and publish a long-term schedule in relation to expected allocation for support, covering at least the following threfive years and including for each scheme the indicative timing, the capacity, the budget expected to be allocated, as well as a consultation of stakeholders on the design of the support.
Amendment 105 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 16 – paragraph 4
Article 16 – paragraph 4
4. The permit granting process referred to in paragraph 1 shall not exceed a period of three years, except for the cases set out in Article 16(4a) and (5) and Article 17.
Amendment 106 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 16 – paragraph 4 a (new)
Article 16 – paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. For installations with an electricity capacity between 50kW and 1MW, the permit granting process shall not exceed a period of one year.
Amendment 115 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 21 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 – point a a (new)
Article 21 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 – point a a (new)
(aa) are entitled to consume their self- generated renewable electricity without it being subject to any charge, fee or tax.
Amendment 116 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 22 – paragraph 2
Article 22 – paragraph 2
2. Without prejudice to State aid rules, when designing support schemes, Member States shall take into account the specificities of renewable energy communities, especially including communities with low-income households affected by energy poverty.
Amendment 119 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – point uu a (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – point uu a (new)
(uu a) ‘sectoral integration’ means the integration of the power sector with the transport heating and cooling sector through the usage all carriers of energy e.g. electricity and hydrogen;
Amendment 120 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 11
Recital 11
(11) In order to support Member States' ambitious contributions to the Union in reaching their targets, a financial framework aiming to facilitate investments in renewable energy projects in those Member States should be established, also through the use of financial instruments.
Amendment 122 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 1
Article 3 – paragraph 1
1. Member States shall collectively ensure that the share of energy from renewable sources in the Union's gross final consumption of energy in 2030 is at least 2735%.
Amendment 123 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 13
Recital 13
(13) The Commission should facilitate the exchange of best practices between the competent national or regional and local authorities or bodies, for instance through regular meetings to find a common approach to promote a higher uptake of cost-efficient renewable energy projects, encourage investments in new, flexible and clean technologies, and set out an adequate strategy to manage the retirement of technologies which do not contribute to the reduction of emissions or deliver sufficient flexibility, based on transparent criteria and reliable market price signals.
Amendment 123 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 2
Article 3 – paragraph 2
2. Member States' respective contributionbinding targets to this overall 2030 target shall be set and notified to the Commission as part of their Integrated National Energy and Climate Plans in accordance with Articles 3 to 5 and Articles 9 to 11 of Regulation [Governance].
Amendment 141 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 18
Recital 18
(18) Without prejudice to adaptations of support schemes to bring them in line with State aid rules, rRenewables support policies should be stable and avoid frequent changes. Such changes have a direct impact on capital financing costs, the costs of project development and therefore on the overall cost of deploying renewables in the Union. Member States should prevent the revision of any support granted to renewable energy projects from having a negative impact on their economic viability. In this context, Member States should promote cost- effective support policies and ensure their financial sustainability.
Amendment 155 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 26
Recital 26
(26) To create opportunities for reducing the cost of meeting the Union targets laid down in this Directive and to give flexibility to Member States to comply with their obligation not to go below their 2020 national targets after 2020, it is appropriate both to facilitate the consumption in Member States of energy produced from renewable sources in other Member States, and to enable Member States to count energy from renewable sources consumed in other Member States towards their own renewable energy share. For this reason, cooperation mechanisms are required to complement the obligations to open up support to projects located in other Member States. Those mechanisms include statistical transfers, joint projects between Member States or joint support schemes.
Amendment 158 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 28
Recital 28
(28) It should be possible for imported electricity, produced from renewable energy sources outside the Union to count towards Member States’ renewable energy sharestargets. In order to guarantee an adequate effect of energy from renewable sources replacing conventional energy in the Union as well as in third countries it is appropriate to ensure that such imports can be tracked and accounted for in a reliable way. Agreements with third countries concerning the organisation of such trade in electricity from renewable energy sources will be considered. If, by virtue of a decision taken under the Energy Community Treaty18 to that effect, the contracting parties to that Treaty are bound by the relevant provisions of this Directive, the measures of cooperation between Member States provided for in this Directive should be applicable to them. __________________ 18 OJ L 198, 20.7.2006, p. 18.
Amendment 166 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 53
Recital 53
(53) With the growing importance of self-consumption of renewable electricity, there is a need for a definition of renewable self-consumers and a regulatory framework which would empower self-consumers to generate, store, consume and sell electricity without facing disproportionate burdens. Collective self-consumption should be allowed in certain cases so thatfor citizens living in apartments who for example can benefit from consumer empowerment to the same extent as households in single family homes.
Amendment 168 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 53 b (new)
Recital 53 b (new)
(53b) Member States should therefore actively support policies that focus especially on low-income households at risk of energy poverty or in social housing.
Amendment 190 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 25 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 4 – point b – paragraph 2 a (new)
Article 25 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 4 – point b – paragraph 2 a (new)
For the calculation of renewable electricity used in road vehicles, only electricity from renewable energy sources shall be taken into account consumed at dedicated charging stations and shall be considered to be three times of their energy content.
Amendment 288 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – paragraph 1
Article 1 – paragraph 1
This Directive establishes a common framework for the promotion of energy from renewable sources. It sets a binding Unionminimum targets for the overall share of energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy in 2030. It also lays down rules on financial support to electricity produced from renewable sources, self-consumption of renewable electricity, andThe Union target is to be collectively achieved by Member States through binding national targets. It also lays down rules on financial support to electricity produced from renewable sources and access to the electricity grid for energy from renewable sources, self-consumption of renewable electricity, renewable energy communities and their cross-border cooperation, renewable energy use in the heating and cooling and transport sectors, regional cooperation between Member States and with third countries, guarantees of origin, administrative procedures and information and training. It establishes sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions saving criteria for biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels.
Amendment 381 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – title
Article 3 – title
Union and national binding overall targets for 2030
Amendment 486 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – paragraph 1 – point a
Article 8 – paragraph 1 – point a
(a) deducted from the amount of energy from renewable sources that is taken into account in measuring the renewable energy sharecompliance with the national target of the Member State making the transfer for the purposes of this Directive; and
Amendment 487 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – paragraph 1 – point b
Article 8 – paragraph 1 – point b
(b) added to the amount of energy from renewable sources that is taken into account in measuring the renewable energy share ofcompliance with the national target of the Member State accepting the transfer for the purposes of this Directive .
Amendment 489 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 10 – paragraph 3 – point a
Article 10 – paragraph 3 – point a
(a) deducted from the amount of electricity or heating or cooling from renewable energy sources that is taken into account, in measuring the renewable energy sharecompliance with the national target of the Member State issuing the letter of notification under paragraph 1; and
Amendment 490 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 11 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
Article 11 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
2. Electricity from renewable energy sources produced in a third country shall be taken into account only for the purposes of measuring compliance with Member States' renewable energy sharetargets if the following conditions are met:
Amendment 516 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 22 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2 – point a
Article 22 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2 – point a
(a) shareholders or members are natural persons, regional or local authorities, including municipalities, or SMEs operating in the fields or renewable energy;
Amendment 518 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 22 – paragraph 2
Article 22 – paragraph 2
2. Without prejudice to State aid rules, when designhen designing and amending support schemes, Member States shall take into account the specificities of renewable energy communities. Member States shall design and amend support schemes in order to promote, but not to discriminate against renewable energy communities. Member States shall encourage the cross- border cooperation of renewable energy communities.
Amendment 564 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 25 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1
Article 25 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1
1. With effect from 1 January 2021, Member States shall require fuel suppliers to include a minimum share of energy from advanced biofuels and other biofuels and biogas produced from feedstock listed in Annex IX, from renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin, from waste-based fossil fuels and from renewable electricity in the total amount of transport fuels they supply for consumption or use on the market in the course of a calendar year.
Amendment 676 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 25 – paragraph 6
Article 25 – paragraph 6
6. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 32 to further specify the methodology referred to in paragraph 3(b) of this Article to determine the share of biofuel resulting from biomass being processed with fossil fuels in a common process, to specify the methodology for assessing greenhouse gas emission savings from renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin and waste-based fossil fuels and to determine minimum greenhouse gas emission savings required for these fuels for the purpose of paragraph 1 of this Article.