BAKGRUNN (fra kommisjonsforordningen)

(1) Renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin are important for increasing the share of renewable energy in sectors that are expected to rely on gaseous and liquid fuels in the long term, such as maritime and aviation. It is necessary to establish a Union methodology setting out detailed rules on electricity used for liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin to be considered fully renewable. To this end and considering the overall environmental objectives in Directive (EU) 2018/2001 it is necessary to lay down clear rules, based on objective and non-discriminatory criteria. As a principle, liquid and gaseous fuels of non-biological origin which are produced from electricity are considered renewable only when the electricity is renewable. This renewable electricity may be supplied by an installation that is directly connected to the installation (typically an electrolyser) that produces renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin, or may come directly from the grid.

(2) The energy content of nearly all renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin is based on renewable hydrogen produced via electrolysis. The emission intensity of hydrogen produced from fossil-based electricity is substantially higher than the emission intensity of hydrogen produced from natural gas in conventional processes. It is therefore important to ensure that the electricity demand for the production of renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin is met by renewable electricity. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the need of the Union for a rapid clean energy transition and the reduction of its dependency on fossil fuel imports has become even clearer and stronger. The Commission outlined in the RepowerEU Communication its strategy to become independent from Russian fossil fuels well before the end of the decade. Renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin play an important role in this endeavour as well as reducing reliance on fossil fuel imports in general. Therefore, the criteria to be laid down are also important to prevent that electricity demand to produce hydrogen necessary for renewable transport fuels of non-biological origin would lead to increased fossil fuel imports from Russia for the production of the required electricity.

(3) The rules set out in this Regulation should apply regardless of whether the liquid and gaseous transport fuel of non-biological origin is produced inside or outside the territory of the Union. Where reference is made to bidding zone and imbalance settlement period, concepts that exist in the Union but not in all other countries, it is appropriate to allow fuel producers in third countries to rely on equivalent concepts provided the objective of this Regulation is maintained and the provision is implemented based on the most similar concept existing in the third country concerned. In case of bidding zones such concept could be similar market regulations, the physical characteristics of the electricity grid, notably the level of interconnection or as a last resort the country.

(4) The nascent nature of the hydrogen industry, its value chain and the market means that planning and construction of installations generating renewable electricity as well as installations producing renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuel of non-biological origin are often subject to significant delays in the permitting processes and other unexpected hurdles, despite being scheduled to enter into operation at the same time. It is therefore appropriate for the reason of practical feasibility to consider a time period of up to 36 months when determining if an installation generating renewable electricity has come into operation after, or at the same time as, the installation producing renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuel of non-biological origin. Sourcing renewable electricity for the production of renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin via a direct connection from an installation producing renewable electricity that is not connected to the grid demonstrates that the electricity is produced in this installation. However, if the installation producing renewable electricity and the installation producing hydrogen are not only directly connected but are also connected to the grid, evidence should be provided that the electricity used to produce hydrogen is supplied through the direct connection. The installation supplying electricity for hydrogen production through a direct connection should always supply renewable electricity. If it supplies non-renewable electricity, the resulting hydrogen should not be considered renewable.

(5) In bidding zones where renewable electricity already represents the dominant share, electricity taken from the grid should be considered as fully renewable provided that the number of full load hours of renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuel of non-biological origin production is limited to the share of renewable electricity in the bidding zone and any production exceeding this share is considered non-renewable. Adding additional installations producing renewable electricity is not necessary given that it can be reasonably assumed that producing renewable hydrogen in a bidding zone where the share of renewable energy exceeds 90 % allows meeting the 70 % greenhouse gas saving criterion set out in Article 25(2) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 and it may create challenges for the operation of electricity system.

(6) Similarly, in bidding zones, where the emission intensity of electricity is below 18 gCO2eq/MJ, adding further installations producing renewable electricity is not required to achieve the 70 % emissions savings for renewable hydrogen. In such cases, it is appropriate to consider electricity taken from the grid as fully renewable provided that the renewable properties of electricity are demonstrated with renewables power purchase agreements and by applying criteria for temporal and geographic correlation. Lack of compliance with these conditions and criteria would prevent electricity used for the production of renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels from being considered as fully renewable.

(7) It is further appropriate to consider electricity taken from the grid as fully renewable at times where the production of renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuel of non-biological origin supports the integration of renewable power generation into the electricity system and reduces the need for redispatching of renewable electricity generation.

(8) In all other cases, the production of renewable hydrogen should incentivise the deployment of new renewable electricity generation capacity and take place at times and in places where renewable electricity is available (temporal and geographic correlation) to avoid incentives for more fossil-based electricity generation. Given that planning and construction of installations generating renewable electricity are often subject to significant delays in the permitting processes, it is appropriate to consider an installation generating renewable electricity as new if it has come into operation not earlier than 36 months before the installation producing renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuel of non-biological origin.

(9) Power purchase agreements are a suitable tool to incentivise the deployment of new renewable electricity generation capacity provided the new renewable electricity generation capacity does not receive financial support since the renewable hydrogen is already being supported by being eligible to count towards the obligation on fuel suppliers set out in Article 25 of Directive (EU) 2018/2001. Alternatively, fuel producers could also produce the amount of renewable electricity required for the production of renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuel of non-biological origin in renewable electricity generation capacity they own themselves. The cancellation of the power purchase agreement should not be detrimental to the possibility for the installation producing renewable electricity to be still considered as a new installation when covered by a new power purchase agreement. Furthermore, any extension of the installation producing renewable hydrogen that increases its production capacity may be considered to come into operation at the same time as the original installation. This would avoid the potential need to conclude power purchase agreements with different installations every time there is an extension, thus reduce administrative burden. Financial support that is repaid or financial support for land or grid connections for the renewable power generation facility should not be considered as operating aid or investment aid.

(10) Due to the fluctuating nature of some sources of renewable energy including wind power and solar power, as well as congestion of the electricity grid, renewable electricity may not be constantly available for the production of renewable hydrogen. It is therefore appropriate to set out rules that ensure that renewable hydrogen is produced at times and in places where renewable electricity is available.

(11) In order to demonstrate that renewable hydrogen is produced when renewable electricity is available, hydrogen producers should show that production of renewable hydrogen takes place in the same calendar month as the production of the renewable electricity, that the electrolyser uses stored renewable electricity, or that the electrolyser uses electricity at times when electricity prices are so low that fossil-based electricity generation is not economically viable and, therefore, additional demand for electricity triggers more renewable electricity production and does not trigger an increase in fossil electricity generation. The criterion for synchronisation should become stricter when markets, infrastructures and technologies allowing for a quick adjustment of hydrogen production and the synchronisation of electricity generation and hydrogen production become available.

(12) Bidding zones are designed to avoid grid congestion within the zone. To ensure that there is no electricity grid congestion between the electrolyser producing renewable hydrogen and the installation generating renewable electricity it is appropriate to require that, both installations should be located in the same bidding zone. Where they are located in interconnected bidding zones, the electricity price in the bidding zone where the installation generating renewable electricity is located should be equal or higher than in the bidding zone where the renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuel of non-biological origin is produced so that it contributes to reducing congestion; or the installation generating renewable electricity under the power purchase agreement should be located in an offshore bidding zone interconnected to the bidding zone where the electrolyser is located.

(13) In order to address national specificities of their bidding zones and to support the integrated planning of electricity and hydrogen networks, Member States should be allowed to set out additional criteria concerning the location of electrolysers within bidding zones.

(14) Fuel producers could combine different options for counting electricity that is used for the production of renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin in a flexible way provided only one option is applied for each unit of electricity input. In order to verify whether the rules have been followed correctly it is appropriate to request fuels suppliers to thoroughly document which options were applied to source renewable electricity that is used for the production of renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin. Voluntary schemes and national schemes are expected to play an important role in the implementation and certification of the rules in third countries as Member States are required to accept the evidence obtained from recognised voluntary schemes.

(15) Articles 7 and 19 of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 provide sufficient assurances that the renewable properties of electricity used for the production of renewable hydrogen are claimed only once and only in one end-use sector. Article 7 of that Directive ensures that, when calculating the overall share of renewables in gross final energy consumption, renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin are not accounted because the renewable electricity used to produce them has already been accounted for. Article 19 of that Directive should avoid that both the producer of the renewable electricity and the producer of the renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin produced from that electricity can receive guarantees of origin by ensuring that the guarantees of origin issued to the producer of renewable electricity are cancelled.

(16) Implementation of temporal correlation is hampered in the short term by technological barriers to measure hourly matching, the challenging implications for electrolyser designs, as well as the lack of hydrogen infrastructure enabling storage and transportation of renewable hydrogen to end users in need of constant hydrogen supply. In order to enable the ramp-up of the production of renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin, the criteria on temporal correlation should therefore be more flexible in the initial phase, allowing market players to put in place the necessary technological solutions.

(17) Due to the time needed for the planning and construction of installations generating renewable electricity and the lack of new installations generating renewable electricity that do not receive support, the requirements set out in Article 5, points (a) and (b) of this Regulation should apply only at a later stage.

(18) The reliance on fossil fuels for electricity generation should decline over time with the implementation of the European Green Deal and the share of energy from renewable sources should increase. The Commission should monitor this development closely and assess the impact of the requirements set out in this Regulation, notably the gradual strengthening of the requirements on temporal correlation, regarding production costs, greenhouse gas emission savings and the energy system, and submit at the latest by 1 July 2028 a report to the European Parliament and the Council,