Capacity to Compete: Recent Trends in Access Regimes in Electricity and Natural Gas Networks

Ensuring access to a truly ‘European’ energy grid for every consumer and supplier in the European Union is a core objective of the single market project. From the first wave of liberalization directives up until the ‘draft’ framework guidelines of September 2010 on capacity allocation and congestion management being prepared by ERGEG on behalf of the new Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), the objective of the access regime in both sector is similar: to creating capacity to compete. The objective of this paper is to review and compare from a legal point of view the evolution of the EU access regime in the electricity and gas sectors. We find strong similarities for two otherwise very different sectors, as well as an influence of the electricity regime on the gas regime. The sector-specific regulatory regime, supported by the use of competition law, organises a market design in both sectors based as much as possible on short-term capacity allocation with a liquid secondary trading platforms. The imposition of UIOLI mechanisms and an increased focus on firmness of capacity is certainly the way forward but implementation still is an issue. The right portfolio of capacity durations that are to be proposed by TSOs also remains an open question. The specific features of these two commodities result however in slightly different results in practice. In electricity, the development of market coupling initiatives creates new regulatory challenges but price convergence is now in sight. In gas, the progress has been slower and efficiently functioning spot markets are yet to emerge.access regime; electricity; gas; European Union; competition law; framework guidelines

A guide to hydrogen legislation in the USA : a renewed effort

Peer reviewe

A treatise for energy law

It is now over 20 years since the seminal paper on energy law as a discipline was published. The aim of this article is to review what currently constitutes energy law after this 20-year hiatus. There are two main ambitions of this article, which we hope will have a similar impact on the field. The first is to develop for scholars and practitioners a view of what constitutes energy law-and to make this accessible to both law and non-law energy scholars. The second is to advance a set of core principles that guide energy law, in essence a treatise for energy law. We advocate for a paradigm shift in our current understanding of what constitutes energy law. We advance that it should revolve around this set of guiding principles; however, we acknowledge that to some degree it is perhaps not a paradigm shift due to the current absence of any core principles of energy law. Nevertheless we argue that in our advancing of a guiding set of principles we set out a new path for the study of energy law and thus we aim to change what constitutes energy law and challenge the assumptions of existing researchers as globally society moves towards a transition to low-carbon economies.Peer reviewe

The identification and impact of justice risks to commercial risks in the energy sector:post COVID-19 and for the energy transition

The energy sector faces many challenges today, in particular from the current health (COVID-19) and resulting financial crises. However, a significant number of challenges existed prior to the outbreak of COVID-19. The approach here is to align academic and practitioner legal research and illuminate for the business world from a legal perspective what the key commercial risks are for the energy sector in the years ahead. A further aim of this article is to demonstrate to interdisciplinary energy researchers how these commercial risks can influence energy activity and decision-making across the world at local, national and international levels. Often those in science or social science do not realise the vital role law plays in reducing or increasing the risk profile of energy activity. And that, in essence, is what this article aims to address: the knowledge gap around law and risk and how interdisciplinary scholars should understand the issue of commercial risk in the energy sector. This article identifies how commercial risk for the energy sector will change due to what can be classed as ‘justice risks’. Resolving these justice risks will be necessary over the lifetime of a project from planning through construction, operation and decommissioning phases. For all stakeholders in the energy sector it is vital that there is a recovery and that new energy projects are built and that they contribute to a country’s 2030 energy and climate goals. As the world faces the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19, financial and energy-climate crises, ensuring engagement with justice risks can provide a pathway forward to ensure investors commit to investment. Energy, a key sector in the global economy, will be affected but at the same time can enable economic recovery. It can be stated, therefore, that energy has a dual nature – rather like the health sector – being part of the problem but also the solution to the current financial crises (ie the panacea)