Commission staff working document accompanying the document: Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions.

Abstract

This staff working document accompanies the renewable energy Communication "Renewable energy: a major player in the European energy market". Together with the Impact Assessment, it provides further background material supportive of the narrative and arguments put forward in the Communication. It also presents the outline of certain actions that the Commission will be undertaking in the current year and next two years, as announced in the Communication. The Communication explores how the current European policy and legal framework for renewable energy appears to be functioning, as planned by Member States in their national renewable energy action plans. Further background on this is contained in Chapter 1. The Communication then explores how national renewable energy support schemes to help achieve national targets are being reformed, discusses how further use should be made of the renewable energy Directive's cooperation mechanisms and how a special regime for developing renewable energy in the Mediterranean specifically could be developed. The Commission's actions on these points are elaborated in Chapters 2, 3, 4 and 5. Finally, the Communication highlights the importance of energy technology developments, and Chapter 6 contains a synopsis of key energy technology developments and expectations.