G7 in Rome to Discuss Ukraine, Cyber-Security

In the lead up to a G7 Summit in Sicily on May 26-27, EU energy and climate action commissioner Miguel Arias Canete said April 7 he will be in Rome on April 9-10 to represent the European Union at the G7 Energy Ministerial.

The meeting will focus on energy security, including cyber-security, natural gas and Ukraine; and on the new energy drivers such as renewable energy, sustainable alternative fuels, energy efficiency and innovation in clean technologies.

In the margins of the G7 Energy Ministerial, Arias Canete will hold bilateral meetings with the new US energy secretary Rick Perry and Canada's natural resources minister Jim Carr. Perry was added to the US National Security Council which receives top-level intelligence briefings.

The meetings will follow US President Donald Trump's first summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping April 7, held in Florida, and follow an attack using 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles fired overnight from two US naval ships on an airbase in Syria that was allegedly used by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government for a chemical gas attack earlier this week at Khan Sheikhoun in north-western Syria that killed up to 100 people, mostly civilians.

US Energy Secretary Rick Perry (Photo credit: Gage Skidmore)

Brussels launches probe into German power reserve

The European Commission April 7 said it has opened an in-depth investigation to assess whether Germany’s plans to set up an electricity capacity reserve (Kapazitätsreserve), functioning outside the market, comply with EU state aid rules. The Commission has concerns that the measure may distort competition and favour power plant operators over demand response operators.

The measure will not be phased out once Germany's reformed electricity market is fully functional, adds the commission. It is set to start operating in winter 2018/2019, initially for two years, but the initial 2GW reserve could then be renewed and enlarged in subsequent years. The commission argues that the reserve could continue to exist even when it will no longer be necessary.

The commission last November published guidelines on how such capacity reserves should function.

Mark Smedley