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Assessment Report on Technical, Legal, Institutional and Policy Conditions

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Assessment Report on Technical, Legal, Institutional and Policy Conditions Deliverable 2.1 ASSESSMENT REPORT ON TECHNICAL, LEGAL, INSTITUTIONAL AND POLICY CONDITIONS This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 953040. The sole responsibility for the content of this document lies with the COME RES project and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Public SUMMARY WP: 2 Name of the WP: Starting conditions, potentials, barriers and drivers for the uptake of RES based community energy Dissemination Public Due delivery date: 28 February 2021 level: Type: Report Actual delivery date: 26 February 2021 Lead beneficiary: CICERO – Center for International Climate Research Contributing beneficiaries: FUB, VITO, BBH, RESCoop.eu, ECOAZIONI, ENEA, LEIF, TU/e, KAPE, INEGI, ECORYS Lead authors: Lead authors: Karina Standal and Stine Aakre Contributing authors: Irene Alonso (ECORYS); Isabel Azevedo (INEGI); Massimo Bastiani (Ecoazioni); Nicoletta del Bufalo (ECORYS); Martina Caliano (ENEA); Sarah Delvaux (VITO); Rosaria Di Nucci (FUB); Dörte Fouquet (BBH); Vincenzo Gatta (FUB); Xenia Gimenez (ACER); Gaidis Klāvs (IPE); Michael Krug (FUB); Ivars Kudreņickis (IPE); Erik Laes (TU/e); Kristin Linnerud (CICERO); Elena De Luca (ENEA), Pouyan Maleki (ECORYS); Erika Meynaerts (VITO); Piotr Nowakowski (KAPE); Maria Grazia Oteri (ENEA); Stavroula Pappa (REScoop.eu); Roland Schumann (ACER); Dirk Vansintjan (REScoop.eu); Virna Venerucci (Ecoazioni); Ryszard Wnuk (KAPE); Aija Zučika (LEIF); Solveig Aamodt (CICERO) Document history Submitted Version Date Reviewed/approved by Date for review by V0 Karina 18.02.2021 Kristin Linnerud, CICERO 19.02.2021 Standal, CICERO V1 Stine Aakre, 19.02.2021 Pouyan Maleki, ECORYS 22.02.2021 CICERO Rosaria Di Nucci FUB-FFU 24.02.2021 V2 Karina 26.02.2021 Rosaria Di Nucci FUB-FFU 26.02.2021 Standal, CICERO i COME RES 953040 - D2.1: ASSESSMENT REPORT ON TECHNICAL, LEGAL, INSTITUTIONAL AND POLICY CONDITIONS Public ABOUT COME RES COME RES - Community Energy for the uptake of renewables in the electricity sector. Connecting long- term visions with short-term actions aims at facilitating the market uptake of renewable energy sources (RES) in the electricity sector. Specifically, the project focuses on advancing renewable energy communities (RECs) as per the EU’s recast Renewable Energy Directive (REDII). COME RES takes a multi- and transdisciplinary approach to support the development of RECs in nine European countries; Belgium, Germany, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, and Spain. ISSUES ADRESSED AND MAJOR STEPS COME RES covers diverse socio-technical systems including community PV, wind (onshore), storage and integrated community solutions, investigated in nine European countries. The project has a specific focus on a number of target regions in these countries, where community energy has the potential to be further developed and model regions where community energy is in a more advanced stage of development. COME RES analyses political, administrative, legal, socioeconomic, spatial and environmental characteristics, and the reasons for the slow deployment of RECs in selected target regions. COME RES synchronises project activities with the transposition and implementation of the Clean Energy Package and its provisions for RECs in policy labs. Policy lessons with validity across Europe will be drawn and recommendations proposed. ii COME RES 953040 - D2.1: ASSESSMENT REPORT ON TECHNICAL, LEGAL, INSTITUTIONAL AND POLICY CONDITIONS Public ABSTRACT The Renewable Energy Directive of the EU has represented a key driver for the uptake of renewable energy resources for electricity in Europe. However, there are several countries and regions within the EU where the uptake of renewables for electricity have been comparatively low so far. Current technological innovation provides opportunities for decentralised RES systems of production and energy storage that enable the rise of new collective forms of energy citizenship. The “Clean Energy for all Europeans” package puts consumers at the heart of EU energy policies; the recast of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) includes new provisions for RES community energy empowering them to participate in the energy market. There is a need to re-align national and regional policy frameworks and support schemes with RED II. The purpose of this Deliverable is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the current conditions for the uptake of renewable based community energy in selected target regions in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Spain. Our focus on renewable community energy follows the definitions of RED II (Art. 2 (16)) where energy communities are characterised by open and active participation and control from natural persons, small or medium enterprises and local authorities, and where the primary purpose is to provide environmental, economic or social community benefits for its shareholders or members or for the local areas where it operates, rather than financial profits. This Deliverable provides first a specification of key definitions and concepts related to RES community energy. Next, we present findings from a mapping and assessment of starting conditions for RES community energy in the COME RES target regions. Through document analysis and complementary expert interviews, we have explored starting conditions along technical, legal, policy and social dimensions. On the legal and policy level, we find that several of the COME RES countries have made good progress in transposing and implementing the provisions in RED II that apply to renewable energy communities. However, we also identify areas where more work is needed in all nine countries, including the provision and implementation of enabling frameworks to promote the development of renewable energy communities. Further, we find that regulations and support schemes for RES community energy (as defined in RED II) are not in place. In the contexts where there are other potential support schemes for renewables the transaction costs of finding information and regulatory procedures are high. In terms of social conditions, the experience of earlier forms of community energy varies greatly and the target regions have very different historical and local context as a starting point. Further, we find that, although most of the target region populations are generally positive to renewable energy sources, there is a notable protest against onshore wind, which influences the policy agenda and public opinion. Renewable community energy may be an important pathway to increase social acceptability of renewables. Yet, renewable community energy engaging in wind energy projects may also risk negative reactions bestowed on larger onshore wind installations. iii COME RES 953040 - D2.1: ASSESSMENT REPORT ON TECHNICAL, LEGAL, INSTITUTIONAL AND POLICY CONDITIONS Public This Deliverable reveal that the progress towards transposing RED II and considering renewable community energy in climate and energy policies have started. However, our findings indicate that the starting conditions for RES community energy in the COME RES target regions are challenging due to lack of quantitative (and often qualitative) policy targets and support schemes. In addition, the regulations at play are often complicated. Based on the findings we highlight points of action to support design of future policies to improve starting conditions for renewable community energy. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to express their acknowledgements to the reviewers for their thorough revision and helpful suggestions. We would also like to thank Astrid Stavseng, Anton Eliston and Viktor Nossen from our COME RES partner the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate for insightful feedback. iv COME RES 953040 - D2.1: ASSESSMENT REPORT ON TECHNICAL, LEGAL, INSTITUTIONAL AND POLICY CONDITIONS Public CONTENTS SUMMARY i ABSTRACT iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv LIST OF FIGURES viii LIST OF TABLES viii GLOSSARY AND ABBREVIATIONS ix 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Outline of the Deliverable 3 2. Key definitions and concepts 4 3. Findings from the mapping and assessment of starting conditions 12 3.1 Technical conditions 12 3.1.1 Target region characteristics 14 3.1.2 Target region accessibility and land use restrictions 14 3.1.3 Target region electricity context 15 3.2 Legal and Policy Frameworks for RES and RES community energy 17 3.2.1 Progress in transposing and implementing RED II 17 3.2.2 Integrated National Energy and Climate Plans 31 3.2.3 Targets for RES development and RES community energy in the target regions 38 3.3 Regulations and support schemes 41 3.3.1 Target region regulatory frameworks for RES and RES community energy 41 3.3.2 Target region support schemes relevant for RES community energy 42 3.4 Social conditions 45 3.4.1 RES community energy development in the target regions 46 3.4.2 Social acceptance of RES in the target regions 47 4. Summary of results and further work 49 4.1 Transposition and implementation of RED II 50 4.2 Moving from RED II to RES community development 51 v COME RES 953040 - D2.1: ASSESSMENT REPORT ON TECHNICAL, LEGAL, INSTITUTIONAL AND POLICY CONDITIONS Public 4.3 Future research 53 5. References 55 Appendix 1. Background reports on Target Regions 60 Apulia 60 Technical, Geographical and Infrastructural conditions 60 Legal and Policy Framework and Institutions 63 Regulatory Procedures and Incentive Schemes 68 Social Conditions 71 References 75 Balearic
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