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1. Why is the Fee proposing a plan to digitalise the power system?

To finish the EU’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels and sort out the local weather disaster, our power system requires a deep transformation, during which digitalisation performs a central position. In a context of excessive power costs particularly, accelerating the digitalisation of the power sector is vital to assist customers save on their payments. Good buildings, good meters and electrical autos, Web of Issues units present key data that enables to observe power consumption, improve renewable integration and cut back prices. Revolutionary knowledge providers, apps, and power administration methods have a big untapped potential for power customers, however they want an extra increase and sufficient coverage assist measures to change into ubiquitous.

This is the reason the Fee is setting out a collection of actions to assist this course of by way of legislative initiatives, investments and coordination with the Member States within the subsequent months and years. Within the medium time period, digitalisation will allow seamless interactions amongst very numerous actors. Specifically, it is going to enable customers to additional revenue from home power sources similar to photo voltaic PVs or community-owned wind generators. For instance, it may enable photo voltaic panel house owners to promote electrical energy to their neighbours when they aren’t utilizing it at a value which is cheaper than shopping for from the grid. Equally, bidirectional EV charging would enable the usage of automobile batteries as a further useful resource for electrical energy throughout peak hours on the grid.

To assist these developments, the Fee will formally re-establish the prevailing Good Grids Job Power.  The group will likely be renamed the ‘Good Vitality Skilled Group’ and could have larger duties and contain all Member States and extra related stakeholders. Inside this skilled group, the Fee will arrange, by March 2023 on the newest, the “Information for Vitality” (D4E) working group to assist with creating and rolling out a typical European knowledge area for power.

Within the longer-term, digitalisation will likely be a prerequisite for the mixing of decentralized types of renewable power within the grid, which is able to allow the EU to change into much less reliant on imported fossil fuels, and subsequently much less uncovered to their value volatility. The combination of renewable power sources requires extra grid choices to be taken nearer to the sting of the community. It additionally requires extra grid flexibility, which may be supplied by energetic customers and prosumers that flexibly handle their power property. By doing so, they will additionally decrease their power payments and cut back their carbon footprint. A seamless entry to extra granular knowledge concerning the state of the electrical energy good grids and good client property (similar to warmth pumps, photo voltaic panels, residence batteries, good thermostats, constructing automation methods or electrical car charging factors) will likely be central, however this could solely occur if digital instruments and shared knowledge infrastructure for delivering power providers on the proper second in time change into widespread.

2. What’s the Fee proposing to sort out the power consumption of the ICT sector?

The ICT sector accounts for roughly 7% of world electrical energy consumption, and it’s forecast to rise to 13% by 2030. This power footprint at the moment represents 3-5% of world carbon emissions, placing it on a par with the aviation sector. The rising power wants of the ICT sector shouldn’t change into an impediment to the EU’s goal to cut back power demand within the present context and to attain local weather neutrality in the long term.

The Fee will lengthen the Ecodesign for Sustainable Merchandise Regulation to cowl new ICT merchandise and develop an power label for computer systems. This could encourage producers to make their merchandise extra power environment friendly and extra simply reparable, reusable and recyclable.

With knowledge facilities accounting for two.7% of EU electrical energy demand in 2018 and their power consumption anticipated to rise 200% between 2020 and 2030, the Motion Plan outlines completely different actions to deal with the expansion on this important infrastructure. The Fee will, particularly: introduce monitoring and reporting necessities for his or her power consumption within the assessment of the Vitality Effectivity Directive; develop an environmental labelling scheme for knowledge facilities; discover introducing separate reporting strains for oblique greenhouse gasoline emissions stemming from the acquisition of cloud computing and knowledge middle providers in EU sustainability requirements; and enhance necessities on the working situations of servers and knowledge storage merchandise by means of the revision of the Ecodesign guidelines.

The Fee may also improve efforts to develop frequent indicators for measuring the environmental footprint of digital communications providers, such because the telecommunication networks utilized by ICT units to ship and obtain data. It should work in direction of an EU Code of Conduct for the sustainability of telecommunications networks.

3. Does the Motion Plan sort out cryptocurrencies?

The power consumption of cryptocurrency mining has attracted appreciable consideration over the previous years. The power consumption of cryptocurrencies has elevated by 900% previously 5 years and has kind of doubled in comparison with 2 years in the past, reaching round 0.4% of worldwide electrical energy consumption. 

The Fee will develop a report by 2025 that features a description of the environmental and local weather impression of recent applied sciences within the crypto-asset market, in addition to potential coverage choices that would assist mitigate hostile impacts on the local weather of applied sciences used within the crypto-asset market.

Given the present power disaster and the heightened dangers for the approaching winter, the Fee urges Member States to implement focused and impressive measures to decrease the electrical energy consumption of crypto-asset actors, according to the proposed Council Regulation on an emergency intervention to deal with excessive power costs. In case, there’s a want for load shedding within the electrical energy methods, the Member States should even be able to cease crypto-assets mining. Within the longer-term perspective, it’s also essential to place an finish to tax breaks and different fiscal measures benefitting crypto-miners at the moment in pressure in sure Member States.

As well as, the Fee may also cooperate internationally and construct on the technical experience of standardisation our bodies to develop an energy-efficiency label for blockchains.

4. How is the Fee selling investments in good grid improvement and associated digital options?

Important progress has already been made in digitalisating the power sector: 51% of all EU households and SMEs are outfitted with good electrical energy meters. EU digital and power insurance policies, such because the Renewable Vitality Directive, the Vitality Efficiency of Buildings Directive and the Information Act, already information digitalisation of power as points like safety, privateness and client safety can’t be left to the market alone and its correct implementation is vital. However there may be nonetheless a big approach to go earlier than attaining a totally good and versatile setting.

So as to attain the Match for 55 and REPowerEU targets for renewables and power effectivity, it’s estimated that about EUR 584 billion of electrical energy infrastructure investments are wanted between 2020 and 2030, particularly within the distribution grid. Investments in digital options similar to grid optimisation at distribution degree will assist cut back additional capital expenditure on enhancing the prevailing grid infrastructure, permitting for a quicker deployment of electrical automobiles, decentralised renewables, warmth pumps and different applied sciences – because of reuse of current infrastructure.

To extend the effectivity and smartness of the grid for the advantage of the power system as a complete, the Fee will assist nearer cooperation between the EU Transmission System Operators (TSOs) and the distribution grids operators (DSOs) to create a digital mannequin of the European electrical energy grid.

To information funding, the Fee may also assist the European Union Company for the Cooperation of Vitality Regulators (ACER) and the nationwide regulatory authorities (NRAs) of their work to outline frequent good grid indicators and associated targets that may contribute to this purpose. This may enable NRAs to observe good and digital investments within the electrical energy grid yearly as of 2023 and measure progress in direction of the creation of the digital twin of the grid.

5. How will the Motion Plan handle cybersecurity ?

Making certain cybersecurity of a digitalised power system is a key element of the Motion Plan. Digitalisation can ship a robust contribution to the EU’s power safety and local weather objectives, by making our power system extra environment friendly, extra versatile and extra resilient. Nevertheless it additionally brings alongside new challenges associated to the cybersecurity of our European power infrastructure and the reliability of its electrical energy grid, entry to and sharing of information, knowledge safety and privateness. Extra decentralised and digitalised manufacturing and consumption of power along with linked units improve the “assault floor” of your complete power system, thus growing the cyber-related dangers.

The EU has a systemic strategy to strengthen the cybersecurity of power networks, combining measures which can be particular to the power sector with the cross-sectoral cybersecurity framework. The revised Community and Data Safety Directive – the so-called NIS2 – has been agreed by the co-legislators and will likely be formally adopted shortly. It defines the power sector as one of many EU’s important infrastructures and lays down provisions for cyber-security  on nationwide capabilities and disaster response, threat administration and cooperation and knowledge alternate. In session with NIS Cooperation Group, ENISA, in addition to different related stakeholders, the Fee will establish the precise ICT providers, methods and merchandise that is perhaps subjected to coordinated threat assessments with precedence. Explicit consideration will likely be paid to dangers within the renewable power and grid provide chain, together with offshore wind.

Resilience tocybersecurity-risks within the electrical energy systemwill be additional elevated by a Delegated Act within the type of the community code on sector-specific guidelines for cybersecurity features of cross-border electrical energy flows.

Upon completion of the legislative proposals of the gasoline and hydrogen networks, the Fee may additionally look to suggest to undertake particular Delegated Acts on the cybersecurity for these sectors.

The Fee can also be issuing right this moment a Recommendation to enhance the resilience of critical energy infrastructurestowards potential bodily, cyber or hybrid assaults. These measures are along with the current proposal for a brand new Cyber Resilience Act.

6. What funding alternatives will likely be obtainable for reaching the objectives set within the plan?

The next EU funding devices can play a strategic position to fast-forward the dual transition:

The Horizon Europe 2021-2027 programme can assist initiatives to boost interoperability, have interaction customers within the new power market and pilot power knowledge areas. Within the 2023-2024 programme, the Fee intends to launch a flagship initiative to assist digitalisation of the power system.

The Digital Europe Programme will likely be pivotal in kick-starting the deployment of the frequent European power knowledge area constructing on the outcomes of the Horizon Europe-funded initiatives that display options for this knowledge area. It should additionally fund the newly established European Cybersecurity Competence Middle and the Community of Nationwide Coordination Facilities.

Connecting Europe Facility grants can be utilized to assist some cross-border good grid initiatives being recognized as Tasks of Frequent curiosity (PCIs). .

Nationwide Restoration and Resilience Plans are instruments by means of which Member States can channel funding into the digitalisation of the power sector.

The LIFE Clear Vitality Transition (CET) sub-programme helps the event of good power providers’ options to empower residents and communities within the power system.

Cohesion Funds will also be utilized by Member States, regional and native authorities to focus on the digital transformation throughout sectors, together with power, with a selected give attention to good power methods and good grids.

The Fee calls on Member States to improve their R&I assist for the testing and piloting of digital applied sciences within the power sector and promote cooperation between digital and power stakeholders by means of the nationwide R&I programmes.

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