Electricity, internal market: production from renewable energy sources, RES-E

The Commission's amended proposal for a Directive on the promotion of electricity from renewable energy sources in the internal electricity market, contains two types of amendments. Firstly, in response to the first reading by the European Parliament, a number of new provisions have been accepted. They serve to balance and elaborate further on specific ideas in the original proposal. Secondly, the Commission has made minor rewording and editing to ensure consistency between this text and other applicable Community legislation and to ensure internal consistency within the text itself. The main changes adopted by the Commission are the following: - the Commisison adapted the definition of renewable energy sources except for the inclusion of peat, as this last item is clearly a fossil fuel. The main change in this respect concerns broader definition of biomass with the definition of renewable energy sources. This broader definition gives Members a larger choice of renewable energy sources when taking measures to fulfil their national targets for increasing the market share of electricity in the internal market without undermining the requirement of the Community waste policy; - the Commission amended the provision on support schemes by introducing more in detail the main issues its report on existing support schemes should cover. Furthermore, the criteria for a possible future support schemes were amended, now providing a more balanced frame between internal market and promotion aspects; - a new paragraph is added obliging the Commission to undertake a forward looking review and indications of the national targets for the period 2010-2020. With regard to clarifications and expansions of recitals, the changes stress the following and reflect the amendments proposed by the European Parliament: - the manifold advantages of renewable energy sources; - the need for a stable legal framework; - existing distortions in the internal electricity market; - a call for a further Directive on biofuels from renewable energy sources; - the conditions that must be met in order that investment aid might be given to large hydroelectric installations; - clarification of the application of State aid rules; - reference to compensation payments for avoided external costs; - the importance of market forces to develop electricity produced from renewable energy sources; - clarifying that it is not the intention of this proposed Directive to interfere excesively with the normal use of biomass. �