Economic impacts and framework conditions for potential unconventional gas and oil extraction in the EU: Case studies of Germany and Poland

This study assesses the potential economic impacts of unconventional hydrocarbon investment projects in two European countries: Poland and Germany. The analysis carries out a profitability assessment of the investments, the potential job creation in the region where the activity takes place and the public finance in terms of royalties paid to the local and national governments.JRC.C.3-Energy Security, Distribution and Market

JRC support to keeping “the lights on”

Generation adequacy objective is to check if in the future the generation power plants can supply demand at all times. We have examined some Member States, regions and ENTSO-E pan-European methodologies to highlight the latest developments and current trendsJRC.C.3-Energy Security, Distribution and Market

Smart Mediterraneo: Best practices, innovation and pilot projects in smart grid development in the Mediterranean region

The event highlighted the importance of a multi-disciplinary approach to the research and knowledge development; well-structured and lean procedures as a prerequisite to access the European funds; the post-development phase of the project, when the funding period is over and the technology is in place for delivering products and services.JRC.C.3 - Energy Security, Distribution and Market

International Developments in the Field of Unconventional Gas and Oil Extraction: Update 2017

The last few years have witnessed a wealth of studies, reports and assessments being published in many EU member states, by national and international organisations and in the research community on economic, environmental and human health related aspects of unconventional oil and gas exploration and production. Many R&D initiatives are also underway. This report attempts to provide a survey of several of such studies and initiatives, with a focus on the years 2015, 2016 and early 2017. Principally, reports and studies from public bodies and scientific institutes were covered. Additionally, several papers published in peer-reviewed journals were included. A review of the quality of the studies covered, the accuracy of their claims and their possible limitations was not carried out. This report is therefore only meant to provide a compilation of their summaries, without any endorsement of the findings reported in any of the studies and assessments covered in the report.JRC.C.3-Energy Security, Distribution and Market

Generation Adequacy Methodologies Review

Generation adequacy is a key tool to assess security of supply in an electrical system. In Europe, the integration of high amount of variable generation, demand response, storage, distributed generation, the increase of interconnection capacities and the electricity markets coupling, motivate a need for a revision of how adequacy is assessed. This work presents a review of some European Member States, regions and ENTSO-E’s pan-European methodologies to highlight the latest developments and current trends.JRC.C.3-Energy Security, Distribution and Market

Assessment of underlying capacity mechanism studies for Greece

The increased electricity production from variable sources in the EU combined with the overall decline in demand in recent years, have raised concerns about the security of electricity supply, in general, and in particular about generation adequacy and flexibility, prompting some Member States to consider new public interventions, the so-called capacity remuneration mechanisms. This work presents a review of the underlying capacity mechanism studies for Greece based on European best practices to highlight the latest developments and current trends.JRC.C.3-Energy Security, Distribution and Market

Unconventional oil and gas resources in future energy markets: A modelling analysis of the economic impacts on global energy markets and implication for Europe

Global energy markets have recently undergone remarkable changes, some of which are strictly linked to the so called “unconventional revolution”. This report explores the medium and long-term implications of the worldwide increased development of unconventional gas and oil and their by-products on European market.JRC.C.3-Energy Security, Distribution and Market

The socio-economic impacts of the closure of the Groningen gas field

During the year 2019 the DG Joint Research Centre offered scientific support to the Cities of Northern Netherlands in their transition towards the closure of the Groningen gas field. This study reports on the assessment of the regional socio-economic impacts deriving from the closure of the gas field planned by 2022. This analysis served as a framework for evaluating the impacts and as an information tool for the local authorities on how to plan the steps towards a successful transition and a new socio-economic development. Although the energy sector is not new to experiences such as the closure of big extracting facilities, the analysis of the impacts on the regional economy, employment and the energy sector remains a challenging task. The scientific literature does not provide with a tested universal approach to the study of these impacts. SWAP analysis, input-output models are the most common methodologies. To assess the regional socio-economic impacts of the closure of the gas field in Groningen we adopted at step-wise approach starting from the analysis of the decision of the Dutch government announced in 2018 and followed up in September 2019. We then study the natural gas value chain from the point of view of the business activities in the territory and the jobs at risk. Finally we analyse the opportunities set out in the energy development plans in place or announced by the local authorities. To complement the assessment of future possible developments in the region, we also took into account in the analysis other energy production potentials from clean sources and the opportunities of gas infrastructure reuse. The result of our work was presented at the final conference held in Leeuwarden in December 2019. The work helped the local authorities of the Northern Netherlands in defining a road map for the industrial and economic transition required to adapt to a situation in which no natural gas will be extracted.JRC.C.3-Energy Security, Distribution and Market

ETRI 2014 - Energy Technology Reference Indicator projections for 2010-2050

The Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan) is the technology pillar of the EU's energy and climate policy. This report contains assessments of energy technology reference indicators (ETRI) and it is aimed at providing independent and up-to-date cost and performance characteristics of the present and future European energy technology portfolio. It complements the Technology Map of SETIS by making. The ETRIreport provides: • techno-economic data projections for the modelling community and policy makers, e.g. capital and operating costs, thermal efficiencies and technical lifetimes; • greenhouse gas emissions, and water consumptions; The ETRI report covers the time frame 2010 to 2050. This first version of the report focuses on electricity generation technologies, but it also includes data for the electrical transmission grids, energy storage systems, and heat pumps.JRC.F.6-Energy Technology Policy Outloo

Regional measures under risk preparedness in the electricity sector

Experiences of electricity outages pushed countries around the world to sign formal cooperation agreements and to establish supranational bodies to coordinate actions in the event of a crisis. In Europe, there are multiple examples of voluntary regional and bilateral cooperation between transmission system operators (TSOs). These voluntary agreements are often based on existing procedures implemented by the TSOs for emergency prevention and management. TSOs implement the operational measures applicable in case of emergency and often take initiatives to establish cross-border cooperation schemes. The risk preparedness regulation (RPR) puts together existing regulatory tools and the expertise and capabilities of EU Member States (MSs) in handling electricity crises at national, and across national borders level (regional dimension), while adding some important elements to strengthen the possibility of cooperation among MSs and between MSs and non-EU countries that are interconnected and part of the European synchronous: solidarity of a Member State with the technical ability to offer assistance to another Member State in crisis, with the final goal to protect public safety and personal security; a common EU-framework for the definition of national, regional, and bilateral measures to be included in the risk preparedness plans; cost-efficiency and effectiveness of the management of a crisis through cooperation, and efficient use of resources; legally binding rights and obligations of the parties of the assistance agreement; fairness of the remuneration of the assistance. In order to ensure a common approach to electricity crisis prevention and management, the RPR states that the competent authority of each Member State shall draw up a risk-preparedness plan on the basis of the information collected from various sources – i.e. the regional (with more MSs involved) and national electricity crisis scenarios ((artt. 10-11-12-13 of Regulation 2019/941), the short term adequacy assessment. The plan shall describe effective, proportionate, and non-discriminatory measures addressing all identified risks and adequacy issues. Finally, the plan shall also include the post-crisis activities of reporting and monitoring of the occurrences, in order to gather the lessons learnt from the event, and to improve the risk preparedness plans and management of future electricity crises. This study addresses the regional dimension of electricity crises management in the European Union and elaborates on the national and regional rules and procedures that are relevant for the definition of target measures and regional cooperation agreements. In this context, we identify the essential elements for the prevention, preparation for and management of a crisis as a practical guide for the preparation of the risk preparedness plan, with the objective to extend and develop the European Commission’s Recommendations (EU) 2020/1775 (European Commission, 2020b). This analysis is based on a number of regulatory documents - like the guideline on electricity transmission system operation and the network code on emergency and restoration - and other studies on the most frequent causes of outages, the associated effective remedial actions, the best practices in crisis management, and the economic impacts of electricity crises. The RPR recalls other EU legal frameworks that establish tools for the preparation and management of crises or platforms for cooperation between MSs, some of them beyond the energy field. It is important that competent authorities consult the existing platforms of cooperation and risk assessments. In the same way, it is important that the first risk preparedness plans build on existing cooperation structures and provide clear and transparent mechanisms of cooperation to increase its efficiency in case of need. In this study we also try to highlight the indirect effects of the RPR on the incentives towards cross-country cooperation, i.e. flexible international energy trade agreements, international joint investments that play a role in preventing or alleviating electricity crises, and costs and benefits sharing agreements between the cooperating parties.JRC.C.3 - Energy Security, Distribution and Market