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AEEC PRESS RELEASE
The Associated European Energy Consultants (AEEC), a European association of preeminent energy law specialists, calls for more speed and legal clarity in the process of developing the European Network Codes. The development of these Codes, which are expected
to become binding European law in the next couple of years, is still cumbersome and a general feeling among the experts exists that the first batch of these Codes might not be submitted into the final legislative process until the end of the year at the earliest.
AEEC sees many obstacles in the way to successful preparation of these codes; one being
the many European transmission companies working together to produce draft Network
Codes on behalf of the Commission in line with guidelines developed by European energy
regulator ACER. In some cases, the result is a set of draft rules which has failed to keep up
with the rapid pace of technical developments in areas around smart grids and renewables.
Furthermore, even though binding law in their own right, these Network Codes once passed
will mean work for national authorities in each EU country, which in most cases will have to
amend existing laws and codes to make way for the new rules.
At the AEEC’s annual spring conference in Malmo, Sweden, on June 17th, participants discussed the financing and development of the power grids of the future. Organised by AEEC
and hosted by the Swedish law firm Sigeman & Co. the participants included law firms from
across the Nordic countries and Germany, as well as from as far afield as Portugal and Albania. The energy lawyers were joined by senior representatives from European power grid
operators, renewable developers and manufacturers. In their discussions a recurring theme
was not only the development of the European Network Codes but also their impact on the
transmission grid operators as well as other energy developers and mafucacturers.
The participants of the conference discussed the progress towards smart grids of the future,
and representatives from renewable manufacturers highlighted technology developments
which mean that wind generation is now able to provide a range of technical services to grid
operators. But demand for these services was low, and the manufacturers called for trans-
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27.06.2014
mission companies to give clearer signals for the commercial need for balancing services
from renewable power plants. The challenges for grid operators presented by the increasing
wind capacity across Europe were well known, but the ability for wind to be part of the solution less so. In this context, it was noted that the new Network Code establishing technical
requirements on generators should give sufficient flexibility to transmission companies to
work with manufacturers to incorporate a new generation of balancing services into the energy mix, reflective of local country requirements and sensitivities.
Finally, the conference reflected also on the rapid shift in generating capacity across Europe
over the last decade, from a relatively small number of large power stations connected to the
high voltage transmission systems, to vast numbers of much smaller generating plant connected to the regional and local grids.
For transmission system operators, the impact was likely to be profound, and already we can
see demand based balancing options emerge, especially from aggregators and “flexibility”
providers. Opportunities will become clearer when Europe’s Smart Grid Task force issues a
report on the subject towards the end of 2014, analysing some of the commercial implications for energy suppliers and consumers. For the operators of the regional and local grids,
more active management of networks, especially for voltage control, was on the horizon.
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The Association of European Energy Consultants (AEEC) is an association of European energy law firms from across Europe, which works
closely with utilities and other industry players on EU legal, regulatory
and policy developments in the European energy sector.
Pachiu and Associates is the only Romanian law firm member of AEEC
In April 2014, the AEEC held its inaugural Transatlantic Summit in
Washington DC, in conjunction with US law firm LeClair Ryan, which
brought together energy law experts from Europe and the US, and was
attended by senior representatives from the EU Commission and US utilities.
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