A power market design for Europe's energy transition

At the end of 2016, the Commission will propose a comprehensive legislative package to modify EU level rules on power markets, on national capacity interventions, on renewable energy and on energy efficiency. These proposals will add to an already ongoing discussion on further reforming the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and to ongoing national initiatives for an accelerated phasing out of coal in Europe.

The Energy Union project, one of the flagships of the Juncker Commission, offers a major opportunity to take a holistic approach to these issues that are too often only discussed in sectoral silos.

Against this background, Agora Energiewende organised an evening event where Dr. Patrick Graichen, Director of Agora Energiewende, moderated a dialogue between high-level speakers including Claude Turmes (MEP), Stientje Van Veldhoven (Member of the Dutch Parliament), Dr. Jos Delbeke (Director General, DG Climate Action), Frauke Thies (Smart Energy Demand Coalition), Vera Brenzel (E.ON) and Christian Egenhofer (CEPS).

The discussion focused on inter-actions between currently ongoing mostly sectoral discussions. It allowed to holistically address implications of

• the recently proposed carbon-floor price,
• implications of national coal phase out initiatives for further reforming the European Emissions Trading System,
• the consistency of national capacity interventions with long-term decarbonisation objectives,
• or how to provide stable revenues for needed investments renewable energy in context of the Energy Only Market, the EU Emissions Trading System and national capacity interventions.

PROGRAMME (PDF-download in the media section below where you can also find our proposal for a future European market design as a Power Market Pentagon)

Welcome Note
Rainer Steffens, Representation of the State of North-Rhine Westphalia to the European Union

Introduction and Moderation
Dr. Patrick Graichen, Director Agora Energiewende

Presentation: The Power Market Pentagon – Options for a holistic approach to reforming the EU’s Power Market (PDF-download in the media section below)
Matthias Buck, Senior Associate EU Energy Policy, Agora Energiewende

Followed by comments from

• Christian Egenhofer, Centre for European Policy Studies on The EOM and national system adequacy interventions
• Stientje Van Veldhoven, Member of Dutch Parliament on National coal phase out initiatives and further reform of the ETS
• Vera Brenzel, Head of Political Affairs, E.ON on Investing into renewable energies in context of EOM and ETS reform debates

Panel Discussion with
Vera Brenzel, Stientje Van Veldhoven, and Christian Egenhofer joined by Claude Turmes, MEP, Dr. Jos Delbeke, Director General, DG Climate Action, European Commission, and Frauke Thies, Executive Director, Smart Energy Demand Coalition