Policy Brief 3: Close, but not quite there

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The deadlines for transposing the Integrated Electricity Market Directive (IEMD) and the recast Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) into Member State legislationhave long passed. In the meantime, tracking the relevant developments is, on the one hand, thrilling, as countriescarry out fundamental changes to their energy marketdesigns to accommodate a more citizen-led energy transition. On the other hand, it is also frustrating, because the necessary changes andenabling frameworks continue to develop at very different speeds, with no Member State having achieved the degree of transposition, which would satisfy the European requirements.

Could the deadlines for transposition have been too ambitious considering the political, technical and economic complexities of the national energy markets?Despite all this, Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) continue to develop and citizens, SMEs, public authorities and other energy market actors are waiting (and calling) for the creation of urgently needed enabling frameworks.

As the COME RES Report“Comparative Assessment of enabling frameworks for RECs and Support Scheme Designs”puts it, “The question of whether a country is on the right track cannot be measured by a literal  implementation of the relevant articles of RED II, but rather by a conducive market environment, a successfulembedding in the national context and by the
establishment of suitable and supporting framework conditions.”

This brief, therefore, presents a snapshot of the progress on these elements since February 2021 pertaining to Art. 2 and Art. 22 of the RED II. It providesan overview of how, generally, the transposition of the relevant definitions, the promotion of enabling frameworks as well as the creation of support schemes
and incentives is progressing. It also highlights examples from selected Member States.

Publication Date: 16 Sep 2022

Author: Arthur Hinsch, Carsten Rothballer (ICLEI Europe) and Michael Krug, Maria-Rosaria Di Nucci (FUB)