The aim of this paper is to identify the main challenges regarding the achievement of a low-carbon energy system in the EU by 2050. We analyze the visions presented by stakeholders and existing strategies of member state to achieve this transition. The five main challenges identified are the...

The discussion on a target model for European gas network access started at the 18th Madrid Forum in 2010. This model shall provide a unifying vision on the future layout of the European gas market architecture. That vision shall assist all stakeholders in implementing the 3rd EU energy market...

The institutional setting of open gas networks and markets is revealing considerably diverse and diverging roads taken by the US, the EU and Australia. We will show that this is explained by key choices made in the primary liberalization process. This primary liberalization is based on a...

Recent years have seen increasing efforts in Europe to win the Southern Mediterranean countries as new suppliers of energy from renewable sources (RES-E). Massive amounts of green electricity that is generated in the Middle East and the North Africa (MENA) regions might someday be consumed in...

The installation of electricity Smart Meters (SM) brings about new opportunities for enhancing the interaction between consumers, generators and energy service providers. SM are needed to exert certain sets of actions upon consumers aimed at producing changes in the functioning of the system...

This paper discusses a series of Numbers regarding the economic integration of intermittent renewables into European electricity markets. This debate has gained in importance following the large-scale deployment of wind farms and photovoltaic panels. As intermittent renewables constitute a...

Taking a quarter-century to build a European internal market for electricity may seem an incredibly long journey. The aim of achieving a European-wide market might be reached, but we have gone through – and should continue to go through – a process subject to many adverse dynamics. The EU...

The institutional setting of open gas networks and markets is revealing considerably diverse and diverging roads taken by the US, the EU or Australia. We will show that this is explained by key choices made in the liberalization process. This liberalization is based on a redefinition of the...

Institutional economics provide a useful frame to navigate the fuzzy world of governance structures. Of course markets, firms and relational contracting (or Hybrid Forms) are alternative tools which can complement or substitute each other to frame transactions made among economic agents....

It is puzzling today to explain both the diversity and the rationale of regulators' practice vis-à-vis network monopolies. We argue that two fundamental characteristics should be considered when defining the most appropriate regulatory tools. First, it is the bounded endowment of regulators set...