3 takeaways online debate on electricity network codes
At Florence School of Regulation, we organized an online debate with Maria (EC, DG ENER), Marta (ENTSO-E), and Helene (Eurelectric). The recording of this debate with more than a hundred live participants is available, and here are my three main takeaways:
First takeaway: what’s is a name, several network codes are actually called guidelines, i.e. Guideline on Forward Capacity Allocation, Guideline on Capacity Allocation and Congestion Management, Guideline on Electricity Balancing, Guideline on System Operation.
In the live online polling, participants expressed a preference for network codes over guidelines. The panelists explained that guidelines include methodologies that still need to be developed after their adoption. This means that guidelines tend to be less detailed than network codes, relying more on the implementation stage. The advantage is that methodologies can be amended more easily so they provide more flexibility in a changing environment.
Second takeaway: the EU Clean Energy Package proposes to reform the network code drafting process and the institutional adoption process. The drafting process will be more inclusive towards stakeholders, which is welcome, but the panelists also indicated that this might slow down the process. The adoption process is expected to become faster thanks to institutional changes that have been introduced in the Lisbon Treaty.
Third takeaway: Some are saying that we need time to implement network codes properly before we can consider amendments. Others argue that the sector is changing so fast that network codes risk to be outdated by the time they are adopted. Thanks to the use of methodologies this is at least partly remedied, but amendments will also be needed at some point.
The EU Clean Energy package proposes a process to collect feedback from stakeholders for amendments, but there is no shortcut to adopt them. The panelists also suggested that at least some of the new network codes that need to be developed could be integrated in the existing codes via amendments.
If you want to know why the EU electricity network codes are more than network codes, have a look at my previous article.
Leonardo