Promoting Renewables in the Energy Union: Current Strategies and the Challenges Ahead

Abstract

This article aims at critically assessing the renewable energy promotion policies pursued by the European Union (EU) within the context of both its climate policy and Energy Union policy, with a view to identify main strengths and weaknesses and the potential for improvement inherent to the recent proposals for reform launched by the European Commission through the ‘Clean Energy for All’ package. It starts by giving an overview of the main pillars of the Energy Union decarbonisation strategy, focusing on the renewable energy promotion policies undertaken in the power sector. It goes on identifying the main challenges that the development of renewable energy electricity production has posed to both the EU internal market and other decarbonisation policies. It then accordingly examines the main innovations introduced and/or proposed to improve European renewable energy promotion policies and, finally, concludes that they address the most pressing issues experienced by the EU electricity system following rapid renewable energy development in addition to creating an enabling environment for investment in electricity transmission and distribution infrastructures, particularly physical interconnections, which are essential to ensure successful renewable integration.