2015 pdf digital newsletter jan february 2015 by European Association of Electrical Contractors

© PDF _ DIGITAL NEWSLETTER – JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2015 • EYE CATCHER: EU plans for Energy Union • EUROPEAN NEWS [Directive/Project / Events] • SECTOR RELATED NEWS • FUTURE EVENTS: Upcoming meetings 2015 • PUBLICATIONS [Position Papers/Press Release]

01_Eye catcher: EUROPEAN COMMISSION’S PLANS FOR ENERGY UNION Source: European Commission - Press release 04.02.2015

The Commission launched early February work on the Energy Union; a fundamental step towards the completion of a single energy market and reforming how Europe produces, transports and consumes energy. The Energy Union with a Forward-looking Climate Change Policy is one of the key political priorities of the Juncker Commission. The momentum for the Energy Union is here. The European Union imports 55% of its energy. 90% of the housing stock in Europe is energy inefficient, our energy infrastructure is ageing and the internal energy market is far from complete. The energy security is high on the political agenda, and a door for an ambitious climate agreement in Paris at the end of 2015 was opened in the European Council last October. The recently adopted Investment Plan for Europe is designed to unlock the financial means the energy sector really needs. The currently low oil prices are also giving an extra incentive and give more political and financial room to do what is necessary to achieve a more competitive, secure and sustainable European energy policy. The adoption of the Energy Union package is scheduled for 25 February. The package will involve an action plan, with an annex of “concrete proposals”, including legislation, decisions and analysis. The Commission would be “very tough” on member states not transposing any legislation properly or promptly, Vice-President in charge of Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič warned. “The situation in Ukraine brought it [Energy Union] to the forefront of the political agenda,” he said, “We shouldn’t spend each summer worrying we don’t have a secure energy supply for winter.” This strategic policy document will be accompanied by the "Road to Paris". The December United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris aims to agree on a global, legally-binding target to limit global warming. > The AIE Task Force Energy met on 13 February in Brussels and after an internal consultation process, the task force will prepare an AIE position paper on the Energy Package in the next few weeks. See also AIE internal affairs below.

02_European news [Directives / Projects / Events] 02-01: REVIEW OF THE ECO-DESIGN DESIGN AND ENERGY LABELLING DIRECTIVE The Energy Labelling Directive 2010/30/EU and the Ecodesign Directive 2009/125/EC are considered to be pillars of the EU's energy efficiency policy. Both Directives also require the Commission to review and assess the effectiveness of the Directives and their application. In this context, the Commission asked a st study to be carried out, which final report has been published in 2014. The purpose of this study is to provide the Commission with the necessary background information and analysis so that the Commission will be able to make the review and to prepare for tthe next phases of the process and in particular for the Consultation Forum, for an impact assessment, and the possible drafting of a legislative proposal (when applicable). In view of the Commission´s further proceedings on the final technical report evalu evaluating the Energy Labelling (ELD) and Ecodesign Directives (ED), the AIE Task Force Energy is currenty preparing a draft position paper with AIE’s comments and recommendations on certain areas of the report.

> More information on: http://www.energylabelevaluation.eu/eu/documents/ > See also AIE internal affairs below

02-02: 100 DAYS OF THE NEW COMMISSION, NEW PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION Source : European Commission, DG Energy

Juncker started his five-year five year mandate on 1 November 2014 after winning a vote of approval from the European Parliament on 22 October. This has entailed a number of changes, both political and organizational. Possibly the biggest biggest success so far is the change of the Commission’s modus operandi. By introducing a new structure, organising Commissioners in teams led by a vice-president vice president in charge of an overarching objective, Juncker is credited for altering a stuffy and lethargic bureaucratic machine. Since it took office, the Juncker Commission has tried to focus on a limited number of dossiers: energy union, capital markets union, digital Europe. This has given a clear sense of direction to the EU executive, centre-right lawmakers rs argue. “It takes into account the promise made to voters: that Europe should be big on big issues and small on small issues,” said M. Weber, chair of the EPP. Most importantly, President Juncker has made the establishment of a European Energy Union a priority for the coming five years (see previous article). This will help to face the challenges of Europe's energy landscape, such as the Ukraine--Russia Russia conflict and energy security, sustainability and the effects of high energy prices on Europe's competitiveness. competi

On 26 November, President Juncker launched the Investment Plan for Europe of EUR 315bn (see next article) for which Energy is one of the priorities. The energy sector will be at the heart of the Investment Plan because investment needs are huge and there are more mature projects in this sector than in any other sector. A specific focus will be on energy efficiency, renewables and energy infrastructure. Much work lies ahead, then, for our new Vice President for the Energy Union, Maroš Šefčovič, for Miguel Arias Cañete, Commissioner for Energy and Climate Action, and for the Directorate General for Energy.

02-03: EU LAUNCHES INVESTMENT PLAN OFFENSIVE TO BOOST JOBS AND GROWTH Source: European Commission – Press release

On 26 November, the European Commission announced a € 315 billion Investment Plan to get Europe growing again and get more people back to work. According to European Commission estimates, taken as a whole, the proposed measures could add € 330 - € 410 billion to EU GDP over the next three years and create up to 1.3 million new jobs. The Plan is built on three main strands: (1) Mobilising additional finance for investment through the creation of a new European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI); (2) A credible project pipeline coupled with technical assistance to channel the money where it is needed; (3) A Road Map to tackle barriers to investment. > More info: The investment plan in graphs and Vice-President Jyrki Katainen explaining the EU investment plan

02-04: SUBSIDIES AND COSTS OF EU ENERGY - FINAL REPORT The European Commission has sent out an interesting report on “Subsidies and costs of EU energy” unveiling for the first time data on costs and subsidies across various generation technologies in the electricity sector in all EU Member States. This study was ordered and paid for by the European Commission, Directorate-General for Energy and was carried out and authored by Ecofys. KPMG, the Centre for Social and Economic Research (CASE) and CE Delft provided data collection support with regard to public interventions in 28 Member States. The way energy markets function and the effect of government interventions in the European Union has been the subject of much debate in recent years. To date however, there has not been a complete dataset for the EU28 detailing the Government interventions in the energy market. This report presents the results of a study commissioned by DG Energy to quantify the extent of public interventions in energy markets in all 28 Member States for all energy use excluding transport. > Ask for a digital copy via info@aie.eu or read the whole study via the AIE ISSUU Library: http://issuu.com/aie_eur_electrical_contractors/docs/2014_subsidies_and_costs_of_eu_ener/0

02-05: PUSH FROM THE GREENS FOR E-MOBILITY IN THE ENERGY UNION PLANS A coalition of environmental groups called on lawmakers to make electrification of transport a priority in the Energy Union plan, at a time when the European Commission is finalising its work on the proposal. A transport system running on electricity could help the EU achieve its energy and climate targets, said eight green NGOs in a letter sent in January: “An electrification strategy, based on the use of renewable energies like wind and solar, within the Energy Union is a bold and appealing vision in moving away from polluting, imported oil to clean domestically-generated electricity,” the NGOs said. At present, electrically charged vehicles (ECVs) make up less than 1% of the total market of around 12.55 million passenger cars sold last year,” said ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturer's Association). While consumers like electric cars, not many end up buying them, explained the automobile manufacturers. “Industry has strongly called for greater emphasis on coordinated support for ECVs, […] but an enforced transition to the electrification of vehicles through the abandonment of the technological neutrality principle would be both costly and ineffective in terms of CO2 emissions,” said ACEA.

02-06: PUBLIC CONSULTATION ON THE REVIEW ON THE WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE (DIRECTIVE 2003/88/EC) The main purpose of this consultation is to gather insights and contributions from the public in the context of the ongoing review and impact assessment process concerning the Working Time Directive and possible changes to the Directive. To access this consultation, please click here. > DEADLINE: 15/03/2015

02-07: EU PVSEC 2015 CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION IN HAMBURG (14-18 SEPTEMBER)

The 31st European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC 2015) will take place in Hamburg, Germany this year. The EU PVSEC is the largest international Conference for Photovoltaic research, technologies and applications, and at the same time a top international PV Industry Exhibitions. It gathers the global PV community to conduct business, to network and to present and discuss the latest developments and innovations in Photovoltaics. It is the world renowned science-to-science, business-tobusiness and science-to-industry platform with a full and only focus on the global PV Solar sector. The call for papers was closed last 16th of February. All submitted abstracts will be scored in March by three independent paper review experts, members of the international Scientific Committee. The topic organisers will set-up the Conference Programme in April. Notification of acceptance will be sent latest from end of April 2015. > Find more information on the conference detailed topics and late abstracts here: Late Abstract | Details of the Conference Topics

03_ Sector related news AIE INTERNAL 03-01: TASK FORCE ENERGY SERVICES [ETF] > The Task Force Energy, met last Friday on 13 February under the chairmanship of Alexis Cintrat (SERCE), had a fruitful and positive meeting. The Task Force agreed upon several actions in the near future on topics such as the Energy Union draft paper, the follow-up of the Primary Energy Conversion factor in the framework of the energy labelling Directive, the review of this Directive and possible energy efficient measures and ideas of financing renovation from an electrical contracting viewpoint! The recently re-launched task force with new members was most enthusiastic and creative. In the next few weeks further actions will be developed. To be continued....

ON-GOING AIE ACTIVITIES 03-02: THE TASK FORCE COMMUNICATION AND SOCIAL MEDIA MEETS ON 24 FEBRUARY > The Task Force Communication and social media meets on 24 February and will discuss best practices to attract young people to our branch with in-depth examples such as the website for vocational education E-Zubis (Germany, represented by Mirko Krebs). Evelyne Schellekens will report on a video competition in the construction industry at EU level and Finland’s representative Paula Ihamäki would like to share experiences about effective arguments in consumer business. What are the magic words that make people want to invest in modern electrical solutions? Uneto-Vni’s consultant Kirsten Bruijel will present the social media campaign ‘De Techniek achter Nederland’ who won the local ‘Super Promoter’ Award in the Netherlands. The AIE secretariat on her side will enquire if there is a national need for EU level contribution on communication for the electrical branch such as a common AIE leaflet, new video, digital presentation (useful to distribute at national level) and which channels the national members use to distribute AIE news coming from infoflashes and newsletters.

NATIONAL INFO 03-03: FRANCE: RESIDENCES SENIORS, ENGINE OF INNOVATION The market of seniors has a high potential of development, in particular in the real estate where it is a real ground of initiatives and technological and social experiments. About 8.000 housing a year feed from now on the park of residences seniors, a revealing figure of the dynamics of this market. Moreover, a study in France on the subject underlines it, "this mode of accommodation is by far the most dynamic, compared in particular with the adapted historic accommodation or with the home accommodation".

This type of residences aims at adapting himself to the public senior, which today has no single face, but buildings with diverse needs and demands. To answer this diversity, developers and promoters show imagination and do not hesitate to launch initiatives and technological and social experiments in the service of the "property to age". "Whereas the concept of connected house takes shape (terminals of communication, equipped home automation, E-santé), the initiatives multiply regarding intergenerational cohabitation, Résidence senior ‘Les Jardins d'Arcadie’ à Colmar opening of residences to third parties and preventive routes of health “. For example, certain operators bet on technologies to facilitate the autonomy, in particular via the home automation, others on a very precise positioning to adapt to demands in particular for the elderly living on the countryside. No doubt, the sector of residences for seniors is on an ascending curve …

03-04: SPAIN: MATELEC 2014 CONFIRMS REACTIVATION OF THE ENERGY SECTOR According to the 17th edition of the Spanish International Trade Fair for the Electrical and Electronics Industry, Matelec 2014, that took place in Madrid from 28 till 31 October 2014, 37.000 professionals from 72 countries celebrated the reactivation of the energy branch and installations sector. In addition to commercial activity, Matelec has returned to host a busy schedule, with more than seventy meetings and events, congresses and conferences have highlighted the professional opportunities of the market rebound. The 2014 edition was marked with an increased activity of the lighting sector (+46%) and increased participation of the electric and electronic automation industry (+20%). 200 of the 547 companies were exhibitors in the segments of Technology and components for the Electrical Installation and Management of Electricity. Examples of meetings oriented to efficient architecture and rehabilitation were: intelligent lighting; industrial productivity: control and maintenance of large projects - management of energy efficiency; technical solutions for retail; and AEDIVE: the Electric vehicle. Within this edition of Matelec it has been demonstrated that the efficiency and rehabilitation sector represent important drivers of sector growth, which is leading to the emergence of new professionals and business models. > Official website: http://www.ifema.es/matelec_06/

BRIEF PRESS NEWS 03-05: EUROPEAN INVESTMENT BANK APPROVES 4.8 BILLION SUPPORT TO EU SME’S AND MID-CAP COMPANIES Source: ND Europe Daily 09.02.2015

The Board of the European Investment Bank meeting this week approved EUR 4.8 billion of new loans to support investment by small and medium sized businesses and mid-cap companies across Europe.

For the first time since 2007, the economies of all European Union Member States are expected to grow again this year, according to the European Commission‘s winter forecast. Over the course of this year, economic activity is expected to pick up moderately in the EU and in the euro area, before accelerating further in 2016. Growth this year is forecast to rise to 1.7% for the EU as a whole and to 1.3% for the euro area. In 2016, annual growth should reach 2.1% and 1.9%. These improved growth prospects across Europe are still limited by a weak investment environment and high unemployment.

03-06: EU TO SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTRIC VEHICLE TRANSPORT ROADS IN NORTHERN EUROPE The EU's TEN-T Programme will invest over €4 million in the development of an open access fast charging station network in the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Germany. In total 155 chargers for electric vehicles are to be installed along the main highways connecting these countries. This project aims to create an open access fast charging corridor along major highways connecting Sweden, Denmark, Germany and The Netherlands. The pilot project will install a total of 155 chargers along the main motorways: 30 in the Netherlands, 23 in Denmark, 35 in Sweden and 67 in Germany. > The project is to be completed by December 2015. More information: Project: 2013-EU-92043-S

04_ Future events http://www.aie.eu/aie/page/Events Please don’t forget to take a look on the AIE website for more future AIE meetings in 2015 04-01 UPCOMING MEETINGS 2015: 24.02.2015

Social media group meet in Brussels | Kortenberg

12.03.2015

General Secretaries Committees AIE | Brussels

09.04.2015

Extra Strategic PCC meeting in Brussels | Kortenberg

30.04.2015

Experts CYE-WSE meet in Brussels | Kortenberg

07.05.2015

Policy Coordination Committee – PCC | Kortenberg

19.05.2015

General Secretaries Committees AIE | Brussels

04-05.06.15

Technical Task Force meeting – TTF | Edinburgh, Scotland

05_ Publications – check new AIE and related publications at our library on ISSUU AIE members and other related organisations from the electrical value chain are invited to inform us on interesting articles, brochures, scientific reports that can be added to our AIE online ISSUU Library!

05-01: DIFFERENT EU COMMISSION REGULATIONS AND GUIDELINES PUBLISHED Pleased be informed that the Commission recently published the Guidelines accompanying: 



Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 812/2013 of 18 February 2013 supplementing Directive 2010/30/EU with regard to energy labelling of water heaters, hot water storage tanks and packages of water heater and solar device, and; Commission Regulation (EU) No 814/2013 of 2 August 2013 implementing Directive 2009/125/EC with regard to ecodesign requirements for water heaters and hot water storage tanks.

These guidelines also accompany the following regulations: 

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Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 811/2013 of 18 February 2013 supplementing Directive 2010/30/EU with regard to energy labelling of space heaters, combination heaters, packages of space heater, temperature control and solar device and packages of combination heater, temperature control and solar device; Commission Regulation (EU) No 813/2013 of 2 August 2013 implementing Directive 2009/125/EC with regard to ecodesign requirements for space heaters and combination heaters.

You may access this document here. These guidelines aim to help relevant stakeholders, including industry and public authorities, to implement the Regulation and its requirements in practice. As you know, we have been strongly involved in the development of this documents and our input has been taken into account.

05-02: EURELECTRIC Report on: Electricity trends and figures revealing investment gap is threatening low-carbon energy transition As Europe advances to a decarbonised economy, a new energy landscape is emerging. In 2013, for the second year running, more than half of the electricity generated in Europe came from low-carbon sources. The share of renewable electricity continued to grow: from 24% is 2012 to 27% in 2013. As a result, 2013 also saw a marked decline in CO2 emissions. At the same time, however, investment in renewables substantially declined between 2011 and 2013. These are some of the key findings of a new report on electricity industry trends and figures, based on the latest available industry figures (2013) and covers 34 countries, namely the EU-28, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Turkey, Serbia and Ukraine. The rapid energy transition is creating new challenges: the power system needs to adapt to the growing share of variable electricity production while ensuring a stable electricity supply and continued low-carbon investment. Yet the report shows that the power sector is experiencing a persistent investment gap, as wholesale prices are too low to incentivise investment in most existing technologies. The energy transition requires prompt policy and market adaptations that let power companies bridge the investment gap and provide a continued safe and affordable electricity supply to their customers. In

particular, it is vital to strengthen the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) so that it delivers a robust carbon price that supports investments in low carbon technologies.

05-03: INTELLIGENT LIGHTING COULD IMPROVE HEALTH, SLASH BILLS Source: EU Horizon Magazine 14.12.2014

The widespread adoption of a new form of lighting could not only help dramatically reduce Europe’s energy use but also be used to improve people’s health and well-being. Increased use of SSL could lead to ‘human-centric’ lighting systems, which positively affect our physical and psychological well-being, when used wisely. SSL systems can change the colour, intensity and even the distribution of their light sources in response to the environment by using networked sensors to detect any changes. This can link to potential health benefits. Some combinations of light level and spectrum can improve alertness in people. Similarly, exposing the eyes to more blue light in the morning, cuts melatonin production, reducing fatigue during the day and improving sleep by boosting the circadian rhythm, though only if blue light exposure is reduced at night. However, as high exposure to blue light may be harmful for the human retina, a good lighting system is carefully designed in order to balance these two aspects. > More available on: http://horizon-magazine.eu/article/intelligent-lighting-could-improve-health-slash-bills_en.html

European Association of Electrical Contractors “ELECTRICITY SURROUNDS US – TOUCHES EVERY ONE OF US, EVERY DAY, EVERYWHERE. Who we are: The AIE – the European Association of electrical contracting companies - represents through its 20 national member associations about 175,000 specialist contracting companies employing about 1,000,000 workers in the EU-countries and beyond. The AIE represents companies from all sizes, the big majors and a majority of small and medium size enterprises [SME]. AIE member companies have an in-depth knowledge and high-quality expert skills to carry out all kind of electrical engineering and infrastructure works [high, medium and low voltage]. The overall turnover of the sector is approximately 75 billion Euros. Monitoring the EU agenda/Directives relevant for the electrical sector, the AIE points out the key strategies and main priorities for the modern electrical contractor. With the increasing complexity of technical installations, the private consumer and house owners are becoming more and more dependent on the knowledge and creativity of the electrical contractor. He is an expert adviser who is able to explain to the client the possibilities and advantages of new technology in a technical and environmental way. Kindly visit our website: www.aie.eu or contact us at info@aie.eu.