Gas – Photo Naftogaz of Ukraine
(BRUSSELS) – MEPs and the EU’s Spanish Presidency of the Council agreed Tuesday provisional plans to facilitate the uptake of renewable and low-carbon gases, including hydrogen, into the EU gas market.
The new directive aims to decarbonise the EU’s energy sector by ramping up the production of renewable gases and hydrogen and facilitating their integration into EU energy networks.
It will also help secure energy supply, in order to address both climate change and the disruption of gas flows caused by the Russian aggression of Ukraine. During the negotiations, MEPs pushed for strong measures on price transparency, consumers’ right to be properly informed and support for vulnerable consumers, in order to protect those at risk of energy poverty during the energy transition.
Member states will be obliged to take measures to prevent disconnections. MEPs also secured clear and fair pricing for renewable and low-carbon gas and a consistent energy supply during the transition.
Member states will decide whether grid operators for hydrogen, natural gas and electricity can belong to the same company. While legal horizontal unbundling – legal separation – will be the default scenario, member states may grant derogations on the basis of a publicly accessible cost-benefit analysis.
The directive will now have to be formally endorsed by Parliament and Council in order to become law.
Proposal for a regulation on the internal markets for renewable and natural gases and for hydrogen
