| Press Release 19-11 CEER welcomes the European Commission’s communication of the European Green Deal Europe’s energy regulators support the Green Deal’s goal of “supplying clean, affordable and secure energy” The Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER1), the voice of Europe’s energy regulators, welcomes the European Commission’s communication on Wednesday this week of the European Green Deal. CEER President, Annegret Groebel, said
“The Communication’s message of further decarbonisation of Europe’s energy sector while assuring security and affordability for consumers fits hand-in-glove with CEER’s strategic goal of decarbonisation at least cost. The emphasis on advancing smart infrastructure so as to enhance cross-border and regional cooperation to bring benefits to consumers is a goal that regulators will help deliver. Amongst urgent climate goals, it is right that the communication does not forget that energy poverty remains an issue for millions of Europeans.” CEER further welcomes that this on-time communication was accompanied by an annex of key actions, informing the public of what they can concretely expect from the proposal. CEER would cite the following proposed actions as ones where energy regulators see particular value within the scope of our work:
• Strategy for smart sector integration: this is vital to deliver the benefits of digitalisation, sector coupling, flexibility, etc.
• Evaluation and review of the Trans-European Network – Energy Regulation: this is of core interest to regulators, as the regulation identifies priority corridors and thematic areas of trans-European energy infrastructure and provides guidelines for the selection of Projects of Common Interest (PCIs). Regulators are eager to work with the European Commission in this evaluation/review.
• Strategy on offshore wind: Variable renewables at scale are an essential component of decarbonisation, and regulators support a well-designed strategy to push forward here.
• Assessment of the final National Energy and Climate Plans: these are important for assuring that European ambitions translate into national actions, and energy regulators stand ready to contribute to the assessment of these plans as well as in light of the Green Deal proposal to increase the EU 2030 climate target to at least 50% and towards 55% in a responsible way. Regulators will, oftentimes in conjunction with ACER2, be among those working to implement many of the proposals of this European Green Deal. CEER’s recent paper on Dynamic Regulation to Enable Digitalisation of the Energy System3 anticipates the Green Deal’s assertion that digital technologies are a critical enabler for attaining sustainability goals. Another recent paper, this November’s ACER-CEER “The Bridge Beyond 2025”4 gives specific proposals for the gas sector and for cross-cutting aspects, such as infrastructure planning, to facilitate decarbonisation, improve market functioning and maximise the opportunities arising from sector coupling. In light of these ACER-CEER conclusions, CEER Vice President, Martin Šik, observes: “CEER and its Member regulatory authorities are looking forward to concrete actions on sector integration and gas decarbonisation and are eager to assist the Commission in developing their regulatory aspects. Elaborating regulation and policy in this area is an essential complement to European Green Deal.” Brussels, 13 December 2019 Ends - see Notes for Editors | 
