Legal and institutional framework
Changing energy policies, such as those in Europe, can influence the profitability of cogeneration plants immensely. In Europe, the introduction of the liberalised electricity market resulted in a fall in electricity prices. This had a negative impact on the profitability of cogeneration plants. On the other hand, the depletion of fossil fuels and environmental concerns has shown the importance of developing energy-saving technologies and energy efficiency measures. Cogeneration presents a potential for substantial increased energy efficiency and a major reduction in environmental impacts. It is therefore of strategic importance. The EU, along with many of its member states, considers the production of electricity from cogeneration plants to be a priority area. There are several programmes at the community level that support cogeneration. On the national level, the importance of cogeneration has been translated into legal text in many cases. According to a study that has been carried out by ZREU and CRES, nearly 60 percent of cogeneration experts have expressed a strong interest in learning more about legal and institutional framework conditions. As these change quite often and are sometimes very complex, there is a need for information on this subject.
Legal and institutional framework, Page 1 of 2
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