Ensuring an adequate, long-term energy supply is a paramount concern in Europe. EU member states now intervene by encouraging investment in generation capacity, offering an additional revenue stream for conventional power plants in addition to the existing, heavily subsidised investments in renewable energy sources. These capacity remuneration mechanisms (or simply capacity mechanisms) have become a hot topic in the wider European regulatory debate. European electricity markets are increasingly interconnected, so the introduction of a capacity mechanism in one country not only distorts its national market but may have unforeseeable consequences for neighbouring electricity markets. If these mechanisms are adopted by several member states with no supra-national coordination and no consideration for their cross-border impact, they may cause serious market distortions and put the future of the European internal electricity market at risk. This book provides readers with an in-depth analysis of capacity mechanisms, written by an expert team of policy-makers, economists, and legal professionals. It will be a first point of reference for regulators and policy-makers responsible for designing optimal capacity mechanisms in Europe, and will be an invaluable resource for academics and practitioners in the fields of energy, regulation, and competition.

Antitrust is a sledgehammer to the creation of European-wide markets. How does it really work though? Take the case of power contracting. Look at the smart and fresh view from a promising scholar: Adrien de Hauteclocque. A must read.' - Jean-Michel Glachant, European University Institute, Italy'Long-term energy contracts pose one of the greatest challenges for EU competition law. Focusing on electricity markets and contracts, this book provides interesting new approaches and guidance in this area of EU law. The book also examines a wider and even more difficult issue: what role can competition law have in creating markets. The book delivers. It is a remarkably lucid account of difficult issues. A must-have book for practitioners and policy makers alike.' - Kim Talus, University of Eastern Finland Market Building through Antitrust investigates the role of antitrust policy in the building of competitive energy markets in Europe. By looking at the specific problem of long-term supply and access contracts in the electricity sector, the book questions the suitability of antitrust policy as a market building tool. It shows that the institutional infrastructure that pre-dated competitive reform and the politics of liberalization have largely shaped the current dynamics at work in European energy regulatory practice. In particular, antitrust law has increasingly been used as a quasi-ex ante regulatory tool, thereby raising problems in terms of economic efficiency, legal certainty and political legitimacy. By mixing legal, political and economic perspectives, this book will appeal to a wide range of readers from academia in law, economics and political science, regulatory and competition authorities, as well as legal and consulting practices and business economists. Contents: Foreword General Introduction 1. The Problem of Long-term Contracts in Decentralized Electricity Markets: An Economic Perspective 2. Vertical De-integration and Single Market Integration in the European Union: An Incomplete Transition 3. The Antitrust Strategy of the European Commission on Long-term Contracts: Is the New Methodology truly 'More Economic'? 4. Long-term Contracts Across Member States: The Problem of Priority Access Rights to Interconnectors 5. The Strategy of the European Union for the Development of Interconnectors: Assessing the Role of Merchant Transmission Investment with Vincent Rious Bibliography Index

This book fills a gap in the existing literature by dealing with several issues linked to long-term contracts and the efficiency of electricity markets. These include the impact of long-term contracts and vertical integration on effective competition, generation investment in risky markets, and the challenges for competition policy principles. On the one hand, long-term contracts may contribute to lasting generation capability by allowing for a more efficient allocation of risk. On the other hand, they can create conditions for imperfect competition and thus impair short-term efficiency. The contributors - prominent academics and policy experts with inter-disciplinary perspectives - develop fresh theoretical and practical insights on this important concern for current electricity markets. This highly accessible book will strongly appeal to both academic and professional audiences including scholars of industrial, organizational and public sector economics, and competition and antitrust law. It will also be of value to regulatory and antitrust authorities, governmental policymakers, and consultants in electricity law and economics. Contributors: J. Boucher, G. Brunekreeft, D. Finon, J.-M. Glachant, L. Hancher, A. de Hauteclocque, P. Longva, F. Marty, R. Meade, G. Meunier, M. Mulder, S. O'Connor, J. Pillot, F.A. Roques, Y. Smeers

Capacity remuneration mechanisms (or simply capacity mechanisms) have become a fact of life in member states' energy markets and are one of the hottest topics in the wider European regulatory debate. Concerned about the security of electricity supply, national governments are implementing subsidy schemes to encourage investment in conventional power generation capacity, alongside already heavily subsidized renewable energy sources. With the increasingly connected European electricity markets, the introduction of a capacity mechanism in one country not only tends to distort its national market but may also have unforeseeable consequences for neighbouring electricity markets. As these mechanisms are adopted by member states with limited supra-national coordination as well as consideration for the cross-border impact, they tend to cause serious market distortions and put the future of the European internal electricity market at risk. This second edition will take stock of how capacity mechanisms have actually worked so far and consider the consequences they have for the European internal electricity market. It will include a detailed overview of national capacity mechanisms, their implications for the EU internal market, and will outline the nature of market failures which are likely to occur in the European electricity markets. This edition is intended to serve as a point of reference for regulators and policy-makers on how to design optimal capacity mechanisms in Europe. It will be an invaluable resource for anyone interested in energy market design, regulation, and competition issues.

The European Energy Law Reports are an initiative taken by the organisers of the European Energy Law Seminar which has been organised on an annual basis since 1989 at Noordwijk aan Zee in the Netherlands. The aim of this seminar is to present an overview of the most important legal developments in the field of International, EU and national energy and climate law. Whereas the first seminars concentrated on the developments at EC level, which were the results of the establishment of an Internal Energy Market, the focus has now gradually switched to the developments at the national level following the implementation of the EU Directives with regard to the internal electricity and gas markets. This approach can also be found in these reports.This volume includes chapters on ''Newcomers in the Electricity Market: Aggregators and Storage'', ''Hydropower Concessions in the EU: A Need for Liberalisation or Privatisation?'', ''Investments and des-Investments in the Energy Sector'', ''Offshore Decommissioning in the North Sea'', ''CCS as a Climate Tool: North Sea Practice'' and ''From EU Climate Goals to National Climate Laws''

This important new work offers a comprehensive and compelling account of State aid law and policy and its application to the energy sector. Clearly structured and offering meticulous detail and robust analysis, it is required reading for all practitioners in the field. The volume explores general questions from the definition of State aid to its application in Member States by national courts. It also examines questions of procedure, questions of compatibility, and State aid and the EEA. It is an invaluable tool for lawyers, policymakers and tax professionals specialising in State aid law and energy law, written by a team of leading practitioners and academics in the field.