The Committee of the Regions welcomes the European Parliament ITRE committee vote on the report of the Renewable Energy Directive revision which takes on board some of the CoR demands included in the opinion of Member of the Flemish Parliament Mr Andries Gryffroy, notably to facilitate the uptake of renewable energy communities and to promote cross border renewable energy projects.
Renewable energy production at the local level is crucial to secure energy independence and keep our global climate commitments. We are delighted the European Parliament ITRE committee shares the CoR view that we need to do more to remove existing obstacles to the setting up of Renewable Energy Communities, and facilitate permitting, while reducing administrative barriers and other factors inhibiting grid access to small actors, municipalities, in order to incentivize collective self-generation and self-consumption of sources of renewable energies". We are also pleased that the concept of community battery has also been taken on board (Art 2 and art 20a). They can enhance the capabilities of renewable energy communities as they are safer and require less investment than a domestic battery.
(Art 20 A of the EP draft report states that the Member States shall remove barriers and provide a level playing field for smaller market actors and municipalities, in particular renewable energy communities, so that they are able to participate in the market without facing disproportionate administrative or regulatory burden)"
The Committee of the Regions and the European Parliament also call for more ambition when it comes to establishing joint and cross-border renewable energy projects (Art 9).
"We need more cross-border cooperation on renewable energy projects, involving local and regional authorities, compared to the original European Commission proposal (the CoR asks for two projects, the EC one), and improve interconnections to achieve an integrated, decarbonised and decentralised energy system, said Gryffroy. We also share the view of the EP that those projects should be added to those already planned under the TEN-E Framework". We want to see the role of regions recognised and that they are further supported to cooperate across borders, and we gladly note that the European Parliament draft report acknowledges the importance of local and regional levels".
We call on the Council to reconsider its position with regard to these crucial aspects for local and regional authorities.