The Committee on Industry, Research and Energy adopted the report by José BLANCO LÓPEZ (S&D, ES) 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).
The committee recommended that the European Parliament’s position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the Commission proposal as follows.
Union's binding target and national targets: Members proposed setting a binding EU-wide target of at least 35% share of renewable energy (the Commission proposed a target of 27%). For the transport sector, at least 12% of energy consumption in each Member State shall come from renewable sources.
These Union objectives should be collectively achieved by the Member States through national targets taking into account the obligations arising from the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. In cases where a Member State is not on track to meet its foreseen target due to exceptional and duly justified circumstances, it may deviate from the foreseen level of its target by a maximum of 10%.
Support for energy from renewable sources: Members proposed laying down common general principles for renewable energy support schemes. Support schemes for electricity from biomass sources shall be designed to avoid unnecessary distortions of material markets.
Where support for renewable energy is granted through a tender, in order to ensure a high project realisation rate, Member States shall establish and publish non-discriminatory and transparent prequalification criteria and rules on the delivery period of the project and consult stakeholders. Member States shall define and publish a long-term schedule in relation to expected allocation for support, covering at least the following five years.
No support should be given to mixed waste. The only support schemes should concern residual municipal waste, i.e. municipal waste that is collected separately and that can no longer be further recycled or recovered and which is solely designed to be disposed of.
By six months after the date of entry into force of this Directive, the Commission shall review the Guidelines on State aid for environmental protection and energy 2014-2020 in order to incorporate fully the general principles laid down in the Directive.
Financial stability: in order to enhance legal certainty, Members stated that the Directive shall apply to both current and future investments.
Renewable support policies shall be predictable and stable and shall avoid frequent or retroactive changes. Member States shall announce nine months in advance any changes to the support and consult with stakeholders.
Where regulatory or network changes have a negative impact on the economy of the projects supported, the projects concerned shall be compensated.
Duration of the licensing procedure: while the Commission’s proposal stipulated that the permit granting process shall not exceed a period of three years, Members stated that for installations with an electricity capacity between 50kW and 1MW, the permit granting process shall not exceed one year.
Consumer involvement in energy transition: the new Directive shall not only allow the development of self-consumption and renewable energy communities, but also encourage it while averting discrimination or overly cumbersome procedures or burdens.
The consumption of self-generated renewable energy remaining outside the grid shall not be subject to taxes or charges of any kind.
Member States shall ensure that final customers, particularly household customers, are entitled to participate in a renewable energy community without losing their rights as final customers and without being subject to unjustified conditions or procedures.
Heating and cooling installations: each Member State shall endeavour to increase the share of renewable energy supplied for heating and cooling by at least 2 percentage points (pp) every year (against 1 pp in the Commission proposal), expressed in terms of national share of final energy consumption and calculated according to the methodology set out in the Directive.
Members introduced provisions to ensure that measures taken in this sector give special attention to vulnerable households at risk of energy poverty.
Transport: the proposal establishes an EU obligation for fuel suppliers to provide a minimum share (6.8% in 2030) of low-emission fuels produced from renewable sources (including electricity produced in from renewable sources and advanced biofuels). In order to reach the target of 12% of final consumption of energy produced from renewable sources, Members proposed that this minimum share of at least 1.5% in 2021 be increased to at least 10% in 2030.
For the calculation of a Member State's gross final consumption of energy from renewable energy sources, it was stated that the contribution from biofuels and bioliquids produced from palm oil shall be 0 % from 2021. The Commission shall develop a methodology to certify low indirect land-use change-risk biofuels and bio-liquids by 31 December 2019.
Lastly, Members considered it necessary to establish new Union sustainability criteria for biofuel, bioliquids and biomass fuels have to ensure that the transition to a low carbon economy supports the objectives of the Circular Economy Action Plan and is firmly guided by the Union waste hierarchy.