European Union: Oil, Gas & Electricity

Northern Ireland's agricultural sector presents a unique opportunity to transform organic waste into biomethane, a renewable gas that could meet nearly half of the region's gas demand while supporting decarbonisation goals. However, realising this potential requires establishing a comprehensive policy, legal and regulatory framework to provide the long-term certainty needed to attract significant private investment in this capital-intensive industry.

Enemalta plc has launched a €30 million restricted procurement procedure for the manufacture and laying of two 33kV three-core submarine power cables with embedded fibre-optic cable between Malta and Gozo. The two-stage process requires interested economic operators to meet strict financial and technical requirements, including minimum turnover thresholds and demonstrated experience in submarine cable manufacture and installation.

Spain has launched a €9 billion electricity capacity market following EU approval, introducing a centralised mechanism that procures firm capacity through sealed-bid auctions administered by Red Eléctrica de España. The framework prioritizes renewable generation, storage, and demand-side resources for new investments while imposing strict emission limits on existing generation facilities.

The European Union's hydrogen market faces a critical juncture as policymakers balance ambitious renewable energy targets with complex regulatory frameworks that have slowed investment. Recent policy signals from Brussels and Vienna indicate a strategic recalibration—the EU Commission has announced a targeted review of RFNBO production criteria while simultaneously launching new funding mechanisms and infrastructure initiatives.

The European Commission has proposed significant amendments to the CBAM Regulation that could fundamentally reshape how electricity exports from the Western Balkans are treated under the EU's carbon border adjustment mechanism. While headline attention focuses on downstream steel and aluminium goods, the proposed changes to electricity treatment—including revised default value methodologies and relaxed conditions for declaring actual emissions—may prove far more consequential for regional power

Ο Δείκτης Βιομηχανικής Παραγωγής για τον μήνα Ιούνιο 2026 έφθασε στις 117,6 μονάδες (βάση 2021=100), σημειώνοντας αύξηση 0,3% σε σύγκριση με τον Ιούνιο 2025. Κατά την περίοδο Ιανουαρίου–Ιουνίου 2026, ο δείκτης παρουσίασε αύξησ&

Ireland's Commission for Regulation of Utilities is consulting on Grid Code modification MPID 345, which would impose new fault ride-through requirements on transmission-connected demand facilities, particularly data centres. The proposed compliance and derogation framework includes usage caps and curtailment procedures that could significantly impact customer operations and contractual entitlements under connection agreements.

The European Commission updated its State aid review timetable (PDF 440 KB), confirming that work is ongoing on revisions to key State aid instruments, including the General Block Exemption Regulation, the State Aid Guarantee Notice, the Rescue and Restructuring Guidelines, the ETS State aid guidelines and the aviation State aid framework.

The European Patent Office refused to grant a patent for a method of developing rod patterns in nuclear reactors based on simulation, ruling that the claimed features do not produce a technical effect. This decision examines whether simulation results for reactor design constitute technical contributions when the rod patterns are not directly implemented in actual reactors and may have non-technical uses such as study purposes.