European Legislative and Regulatory Framework on Power-to-Gas

In: Kreeft , G 2017 , European Legislative and Regulatory Framework on Power-to-Gas . STORE&GO Project .

Open Access

Abstract

This report under the scope of the STORE&GO Horizon 2020 project aims to provide an assessment of the European legislative and regulatory framework applicable to Power-to-Gas. Power-to-Gas relates to many dimensions of European energy and environmental law. In the first place, the cross-sectoral nature of Power-to-Gas links it to both electricity and gas networks and markets, and thus correlated EU legislation included under the 2009 Third Energy Package and proposed Clean Energy for all Europeans Package of 2016. Furthermore, the capacity of Power-to-Gas to store large quantities of renewable energy requires to reflect on the proposed legal framework on energy storage which has proposed under Clean Energy for all Europeans Package. As Power-to-Gas cannot only be considered to be an energy storage technology, but also an energy conversion/production activity which produces a gas from electricity generated from renewable sources, more legal issues are raised under the Renewable Energy Directive, such as the question whether the choice of carbon source for the methanation process is conditioned in anyway. Finally, EU environmental law and the law applicable to the safe production and supply of chemicals are discussed in order to assess which requirements flow therefrom for developers/operators of Power-to-Gas installations.