D7.1 Comparative Assessment of Enabling Frameworks for RECs and Support Scheme Designs

With the ‘Clean Energy for all Europeans’ package the European Commission intended to put consumers ‘at the heart’ of EU energy policies. The recast of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) acknowledged the importance of energy communities for the energy transition. It includes new provisions for renewable energy communities (RECs) empowering them to participate in the energy market. By 30 June 2021, Member States were requested to transpose the definition of RECs, their rights and duties and develop enabling frameworks. Furthermore, Member States shall take into account the specificities of RECs when designing support schemes in order to allow them to compete for support on an equal footing with other market participants.

This document, Deliverable 7.1, analyses the progress in transposing and implementing the provisions contained in RED II that apply to RECs in the nine COME RES countries, namely Belgium (Flanders), Germany, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Spain. The aim of the report is to provide an updated and detailed review of the enabling frameworks for RECs as specified in Art. 22(4) of RED II and to scrutinise the extent to which the analysed countries consider the specificities of RECs when designing support schemes for renewable energy sources, pursuant to Art. 22(7) of RED II.

In addition to the qualitative assessment, the COME RES partners carried out a quantitative assessment of the transposition performance. This covers three sections: (1) definition, rights and market activities of RECs, (2) key elements of enabling frameworks pursuant to RED II Art. 22(4) and (3) the consideration of REC specificities in support scheme designs and other economic incentives. The individual country reports and the calibration table can be found in the annex of this report.

Publication Date: 31 Aug 2022

Author: Michael Krug (FUB)