National Energy Support Schemes Under EU State Aid Scrutiny

Keywords: National Energy Support Schemes, EU,

Increasing industrial and personal demand for electricity, uncertain supplies and an urgent need to combat global warming are significant challenges. In order to tackle these challenges, the EU decided, a few years ago, to issue legislation to promote and increase the use of renewable energy. In 2007, the European Council agreed on an Energy Policy for Europe and endorsed, as a mandatory target, a 20 percent share of energy from renewable sources in overall EU energy consumption by 2020.

As a consequence, in 2009, the EU adopted the Renewable Energy Directive (2009/28/EC) to establish a common framework for the promotion of energy from renewable sources. The Directive sets out mandatory targets for each Member State, requiring them to reach a certain percentage of energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption by 2020. To achieve their goals, Member States may introduce support schemes to promote the use of