Electricity Archives

Average emissions of new trucks will have to be reduced by 90% by 2040, compared to 2019, the European Parliament decided on Wednesday (10 April), adopting a law that will drastically reduce the number of new diesel trucks.

The EU is looking to fast-track massive investments into its energy infrastructure, shifting risk from companies to consumers and risking a landscape with derelict, half-finished pylons.

The implementation of the EU’s carbon pricing scheme for road transport is crucial to drive the business case for electric and hydrogen trucks, Martin Lundstedt, CEO of the Volvo Group, told Euractiv in an interview.

Bulgaria’s coal-fired power plants halved their electricity output last year, while solar farms increased production by 141% compared to the previous year, according to data the country’s Energy and Water Regulatory Commission sent to parliament.

Ukraine's daily electricity imports reached their highest this year on Tuesday (26 March) after a series of Russian missile strikes on critical infrastructure caused blackouts in many regions, the energy ministry said.

On Monday 18 March, the Council adopted a new law to protect wholesale energy markets from manipulation. The new regulation aims to strengthen market surveillance and guarantee open and fair competition in the European Union.

French candidates topping the lists for the EU elections in June laid bare their differences on nuclear energy and the EU electricity market in the first televised debate of Public Sénat on Thursday (14 March).

The sharp drop in the EU's CO2 price, caused by high energy prices and political uncertainty, risks the carbon market's credibility – and becomes an obstacle to the bloc's industrial decarbonisation.

French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said he would convene a meeting of pro-nuclear EU countries on 4 March to discuss the launch of an “Important Project of Common Interest (IPCEI)” in the field of nuclear power.

Euractiv got hold of the Belgian Presidency's plan to unblock the EU Energy Taxation Directive, which is currently stuck because of the unanimity rule applying to tax matters. Wood for heating and charcoal will be exempted from the scope under the proposal.

The French electricity sector fears that the revision of the EU's energy taxation directive will fail before the June European elections, despite a last push by the Belgian EU presidency, which is seeking to break the deadlock in the Council of the EU.

Political momentum is swaying in favour of European solar panel manufacturers, as work progresses on a new EU law banning forced labour practices that would effectively block Chinese imports.

Romania’s cap on energy prices will remain unchanged until March 2025, announced Romanian Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja on Thursday, meaning Romanian consumers will continue enjoying the EU’s fourth cheapest gas prices.

The EU's energy commissioner, Kadri Simson, has urged France to raise its renewable energy target to "at least 44%" by 2030, warning it would consider taking "steps" at EU level in case of persistent shortcomings.

Cyprus could start producing its first natural gas as soon as 2026, and plans to participate in a high-powered electricity cable project linking the eastern Mediterranean to continental Europe, its energy minister told Reuters.

Équilibre des énergies (EdEn), a French think tank, issued its recommendations for the next EU term of office (2024-2029). In exclusivity for Euractiv France, the group stresses the need for a European industrial strategy that is properly geared towards the climate and the economy, rather than a collection of targets.

Small modular reactors (SMRs) will be partly relied upon to meet the EU's 2040 climate objectives, with an industrial alliance to be launched shortly and the first reactors deployed "by 2030", the European Commission announced on Tuesday (6 February).

The European Union needs to take into account its ambitious targets for solar power deployment before it considers any measures to curb imports of photovoltaic panels, wafers and other components, a senior EU official said on Monday (5 February).

European solar panel manufacturers have warned they are “poised to shut down manufacturing lines” unless the EU takes emergency measures to save the sector, such as a buy-out of their inventories, which have piled up in recent years due to an influx of cheaper versions from China.

Czechia will welcome the construction of four nuclear power units at the existing Dukovany power plant instead of the one initially planned, the Czech government decided Thursday while confirming it will no longer pursue bidding talks with US power company Westinghouse.

Germany’s offshore wind energy targets are at risk amid lagging construction rates and grid connection delays, prompting industry calls for additional government support.

France is lagging behind its initial renewable energy targets for 2023, although it is set to pick up the pace by 2030, but not enough to meet EU targets, the latest figures from the French Renewable Energy Observatory published on Thursday (25 January) show.

Electricity prices on the EU wholesale market have been on a downward trend in recent months, a development some governments see as an opportunity to remove subsidies introduced in response to the energy crisis, while others see as a bad signal for the energy transition. 

Europe’s first-ever Offshore Network Development Plan, published on Tuesday (23 January), highlights the huge investment needed to connect offshore wind farms to final consumers, with an estimated 54,000 kilometres of transmission assets expected to be built in European waters by 2050 – almost 1.5 times the equator’s length.