EU close to mapping out electricity market reform: French energy ministry
Business
Says France was heard as it refers with the country's stress on nuclear energy
PARIS (Reuters) – European energy ministers could strike a deal on Monday to adopt the outline of a reform of the bloc's electricity market, an official from France's energy ministry said Saturday.
France hopes the deal will draw on the European Commission's recognition of the role of nuclear energy in a recent renewable energy law.
The European council of energy ministers is meeting on Monday about the reform aimed at shoring up resilience against price spikes like those seen after Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year.
"There is a shared will to draw up a general roadmap at the June 19 council," an official from the office of energy minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher told journalists on Saturday.
Plans are to draw on the system of "contracts for difference" or CFDs, as well as long-term electricity contracts, for a broader agreement aimed at reducing price volatility, lowering prices for consumers, and providing longer-term visibility to industrial players.
Topics still to be discussed include whether CFDs should be mandatory or not, if they can be used for existing power plants, the implementation of new production units in case of an energy crisis, and capacity mechanisms.
European Union ambassadors agreed Friday on a landmark renewable energy law after the Commission agreed to possibly exempt certain ammonia plants from renewable fuel targets.
The agreement broke an impasse after France and some eastern European countries with nuclear energy interests lobbied for EU laws to support hydrogen produced from both renewables and nuclear energy.
"France was heard," France's energy ministry said in a statement on Saturday, noting Friday's EU agreement recognized the role of nuclear in decarbonisation goals.
