The Commission presented a report on the progress made on the application of Directive 2006/32/EC on energy end-use efficiency and energy services and on the application of Directive 2004/8/EC on the promotion of cogeneration based on a useful heat demand in the internal energy market.

The objective Directive 2004/8/EC on cogeneration is to establish a transparent common framework to promote and facilitate the installation of cogeneration plants. In the short term, the Directive should make it possible to consolidate existing cogeneration installations and promote new plants. In the medium to long term, the

Directive should create the necessary framework for high efficiency cogeneration to reduce emissions of CO2 and other substances and to contribute to sustainable development.

All Member States complied with the obligation to analyse their national cogeneration potential and the barriers to achieve this potential and to evaluate their administrative frameworks, including the guarantees of origin system. All Member States have also submitted the first and the second progress reports as required under the CHP Directive although with some delays.

Barriers to achieving the potiental of national cogeneration : information provided in the national reports about progress state that:

in some Member States the guarantees of origin system or the calculation methodologies for the quantity of electricity from high-efficiency cogeneration were still not fully operational in 2010 or little used in practice; national grid system rules regarding connection and access to the grid for high-efficiency cogeneration have been implemented in various ways and show great divergence. Connection scheduling and charging conditions are often still complex and burdensome, especially for distributed cogeneration; Member States identified fuel prices, heating and cooling demand, the complexity of the law, lack of promotion and access rules to electricity grids as the most common barriers to cogeneration . Other important barriers were economic risk, uncertainties due to the Emissions Trading System, the lack of (heat) infrastructure and financial resources, the lack of awareness and immaturity of certain technologies.

Support schemes for cogeneration : feed-in tariffs, price premiums or a guaranteed purchase price for cogeneration were the most frequent form of support in the reporting period (up to 2010), used in seventeen Member States. These price support mechanisms were coupled with capital grants in fifteen Member States.

Energy and business tax exemptions and accelerated fiscal allowances were also used in many Member States.

The scope, conditions and duration of national support schemes varied greatly. Support schemes often addressed a specific segment of cogeneration, e.g. selected by fuel, such as biomass, or capacity, e.g. below 10 MW.

Moderate growth : the report notes that progress in increasing the share of high-efficiency cogeneration remained limited since the entry into force of the Cogeneration Directive in 2004 . The share of CHP in gross electricity generation in the EU-27 increased from 10.5% in 2004 to 11.2% in 2011. In absolute terms, electricity generation from CHP has increased by 38 TWh: from 337 TWh in 2004 to 375 TWh in 2011.

There was a slight decline in total generation from CHP in 2009, especially in industry, probably due to the economic downturn, followed by a rebound in 2010. Heat production from cogeneration is stabilised with no decline registered, and overall, there has been steady growth since 2004 . A moderate increase is primarily due to the increase in district heating in the residential, commercial and services sector.

The share of cogeneration in (thermal) heat production varies from over 30% in Sweden (40%), Bulgaria (33%), Czech Republic (33%) and Estonia (31%) to below 1% in Greece, Malta and Cyprus.

Overall while the share of high-efficiency cogeneration in the electricity market has increased, progress remained limited, reaching only 12% in the share of electricity production instead of the economic potential of 21% identified by the Member States in their national potential analysis.

The Commission considers that proposals for additional measures or amendments to either the Energy Services Directive or Cogeneration Directive are not considered appropriate at this time. This is because both Directives will be repealed and have been replaced by the Energy Efficiency Directive , which has taken over their provisions and strengthened the obligations placed upon the Member States.

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C(2008)7294

The main objectives of this Communication are to report on the current status of the combined heat and power generation (CHP or cogeneration), and to present possibilities for its development. In doing so, the Commission also meets the reporting obligations of Directive 2004/8/EC on cogeneration, notably on cogeneration potential and progress in realising these potentials in the Member States.

Of the EU final energy consumption (FEC) in 2006, CHP represented 13.1% , a level that has not shown significant improvement. The variation between countries is significant, from nearly zero to more than 40% in Denmark and Finland. The CHP electricity capacity in EU27 is about 100 GW, representing 13.6% of the total EU27 electricity capacity. The production of CHP electricity in EU27 amounts to 366 TWh, i.e. 10.9% of the total electricity generation in 2006. The level of production varies greatly between Member States, from 0.3% in Cyprus to more than 40% in Latvia and in Denmark.

The cogeneration Directive was adopted in 2004. A major challenge has been the adoption of detailed guidelines for the cogeneration electricity calculation. These guidelines have now been developed following thorough discussions between Member States and the Commission. A crucial element of the guidelines was a Decision adopted in 2006 on harmonised efficiency reference values for separate production of electricity and heat. To date, 22 Member States have transposed parts of the CHP Directive and the related Commission Decision on reference values.

The CHP Directive requires the Member States to report on the cogeneration potential and the established administrative structures to promote combined heat and power. In addition, they have to report on the progress of cogeneration and provide relevant statistics every four years. Only 11 Member States have submitted their analysis of the national potential so far. The existing reports do not give much clear information or figures that can be meaningfully compared. It is therefore difficult to have a complete overview of the cogeneration potential in the whole of the EU.

The main conclusions of the Communication are as follows:

(1) Member States need to finalise the implementation of the CHP Directive : the implementation of the CHP Directive has not advanced as quickly as was planned. The Member States should take urgent measures to implement the legislation now. Moreover, it is of paramount importance that all countries report on the cogeneration potential and the administrative structures put in place, as defined in the legislation. Further reporting on progress and data should follow.

(2) The Commission shall monitor the implementation and provide support : the Commission will continue to fulfil its share of the responsibilities in the follow-up of the Directive. It will launch infringement procedures as necessary in order to ensure the correct implementation of this legislation. In addition, other support measures could be envisaged to assist Member States. The concerted action model has proved to be useful in many Directives. It provides Member States with the possibility to address implementation problems of legislation with other Member States and the Commission. This could also be applied here to support Member States.

(3) The Energy Efficiency Action Plan (EEAP) update will consider possible new measures :

for micro CHP: the energy labelling and the implementing measures for boilers under the Eco-design Directive in 2009; for large scale CHP: the proposal to amend the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) Directive and the proposal for a Renewable Energy (RES) Directive which will regulate the preferential calculation of emission savings of CHP plants using fuels from renewable sources; the European Commission launched several studies in 2008. The outcome of these studies - the development of a system for a harmonised electronic CHP guarantee of origin, the preparation of minimum efficiency requirements for district heating and cooling systems and the definition of minimum efficiency requirements for micro-cogeneration - could help to identify the policy measures where further efforts are required; the Commission will evaluate the Energy Efficiency Action Plan in 2009 with a view to producing an update. Possible new proposals and ideas related to combined heat and power could be assessed in that context. The crucial role of towns and cities in the European and worldwide energy policy picture will be considered at that stage. the EEAP update may also consider the further role of the National Energy Efficiency Action Plans. These plans should be a leading policy tool encompassing all activities on energy efficiency, including cogeneration; lastly, the CHP country reports revealed some persistent barriers to the wider uptake of cogeneration. The Member States could address many of these without delay. For instance, smooth administrative processes and transparent support schemes, when applied, are essential to stimulate energy efficiency, also cogeneration. A common framework of grid access rules should be of help to all stakeholders.

COM(2008)0771
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Directive 2004/8
OJ L 052 21.02.2004, p. 0050-0060

COM(2004)0049
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T5-0592/2003
OJ C 091 15.04.2004, p. 0524-0628 E

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Debate in Parliament

A5-0457/2003

A5-0457/2003

SEC(2003)1016
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10345/2/2003

10345/2/2003

COM(2003)0416
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COM(2003)0416
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11461/2003

T5-0202/2003
OJ C 067 17.03.2004, p. 0028-0090 E

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A5-0138/2003

A5-0138/2003

CDR0344/2002
OJ C 244 10.10.2003, p. 0001-0004

CES0279/2003
OJ C 095 23.04.2003, p. 0012-0015

COM(2002)0415
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OJ C 291 26.11.2002, p. 0182 E

COM(2002)0415
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