EU draft plans will help avoid disputes over green energy megaprojects

Kate Abnett and Julia Payne

BRUSSELS, June 26 (Reuters) –The European Union will set out how its member states should jointly develop large renewable energy projects to avoid project delays over disputes over how to divide the bill, a document seen by Reuters showed.

As Europe’s transition to low-carbon energy gathers pace, countries are planning large new wind farms and other offshore energy projects that will connect with multiple countries.

How governments and companies in these countries split the bill for such projects remains an open question, and Brussels fears disputes over who should pay could hamper the construction of new major green energy hubs.

“We do not underestimate the potential for conflict, disputes and delays in projects of this complexity,” a senior EU official said.

The European Commission’s draft guidance, due to be published this week and seen by Reuters, will provide the basis for governments to negotiate agreements on these major offshore renewable energy projects.

For example, countries should consider collecting some of the revenue from congestion and putting that money into a fund that could invest in future renewable energy projects that will benefit many countries in the region, the draft says.

Such a program would “address investment gaps that are consistently difficult to fill” for large cross-border energy projects, the draft states.

Other ways to cover financing gaps could include “statistical transfer” transactions, in which one country invests in a renewable energy project in another country in exchange for receiving credits that the investing country can count toward meeting its renewable energy goals, it says in project.

Belgium and France are currently in a dispute over a large new wind farm planned off the coast of Dunkirk. Belgium wants it moved elsewhere.

The project said countries could also explore new ways of collectively owning such projects, including by launching new offshore electricity transmission entities to develop offshore electricity grid projects linked to multiple countries.

He also called on countries to decide early on how to share the congestion revenues the project will ultimately generate, and to consider dividing those revenues not only based on the division of ownership of the project but also on the cost of operating it.

Reporting by Kate Abnett and Julia Payne; Editor: Andrea Ricci