NEWS

Position Paper l Policy recommendations on The Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation trilogue negotiations

Feb 8, 2023

The Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation is a crucial piece of legislation to implement an ambitious rollout of publicly-accessible EV charging infrastructure required to enable EVs to support Europe’s energy and climate objectives in a cost-effective way.

Hence, the EU framework should allow the transformation of EVs into energy assets capable of supporting the integration of variable renewable electricity into an efficient energy system and the electrification of uses. This can be achieved by unlocking their flexibility potential thanks to smart and bidirectional charging. This would ensure EVs can increase, lower or shift their electricity consumption in a time-dependent way to adapt to the renewable electricity generation while shielding EV drivers from volatile energy prices, avoiding unnecessary grid reinforcements and reducing the EU energy dependency towards gas imports.

Our paper sets out recommendations for the negotiations of the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR).

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  • smartEn together with 6 stakeholder organizations and drafting committee members, welcome the new network code proposed by ENTSO-E and the EU DSO Entity. This code is essential for supporting decarbonization and enhancing Europe’s energy security by enabling distributed energy resources (DERs) and demand response. The new code aims to remove the market access barriers, ensuring broad market participation and facilitating market-based procurement of flexibility services. We thank all involved in drafting this proposal and emphasize the need for effective, harmonized, and forward-looking regulations to promote a secure, efficient, and decentralized energy system.

  • Making better use of the grids thanks to the contribution of existing and future connected flexible consumers is an efficient approach to tackle urgently the congestion challenge. The Flexible Demand Management Industry that smartEn represents can empower grid users, i.e. grid connected buildings, industries and electric vehicles, to play an active role in supporting an efficient and smart operation of grids. However, grids must be incentivised to use the flexibility of connected consumers, as already prescribed by EU laws. To support this effort, this paper: Sets out six strategic recommendations for the smart operation of grids which should guide the efficient delivery of the EU Grids Action Plan. Lays the groundwork for a dedicated EU Strategy on Grid Congestion which the new Commission should develop to deliver the European Green Deal by 2030. Such a strategy should foster harmonised approaches to tackle grid congestion issues across the EU, without waiting for lengthy network reinforcement, by harnessing the potential of connected, flexible consumers.

  • The Flexible Demand Management Industry provides solutions to all consumers – citizens, businesses, buildings, electric vehicles (EVs) and industries – to become flexible and be rewarded for playing an active role in the clean energy transition. As such, it needs to be fully recognised as a crucial clean-tech industry in Europe. But as the Flexible Demand Management Industry is very heterogeneous, it is often not easy for it to be identified as a specific industrial base and its significant contribution tends to be overlooked. This is a major gap to fill. This paper intends to inform this effort by answering these 3 questions:  What is the Flexible Demand Management Industry and what are the solutions offered?  Why the Flexible Demand Management Industry matters ?  What is needed in the next EU legislature for the Flexible Demand Management Industry to rightfully become a solid pillar of Europe’s decarbonised economy?

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