The following paper from the OGEL 3 (2019) Special Issue on The Energy Union in the Next Decade is now available:

The Controversial Case of Hinkley Point C: A Straw on the Back of a Sustainable Energy Union?

by Anita Ho-Tieng, Dr. Yamina Saheb and Dr. Heinz Ossenbrink.

Abstract

[Added January 2020] This paper examines whether the Governance Regulation of the Energy Union, in its current form, provides a governance framework that will enable sustainable policy making and will improve decision-making when designing future major energy infrastructure projects to make Europe carbon neutral. The authors first introduce the readers to Europe’s Energy Union, then identify in the literature what makes a governance model sustainable. The Governance Regulation, the new innovative instrument introduced under the Energy Union strategy framework, is then assessed in terms of delivering a sustainable Energy Union. Finally, the paper introduces the British Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant project to illustrate the features of an ineffective energy governance, the excessive market-based approach to energy infrastructure planning (UK) along with the conflicting stance on nuclear energy (EU), as brought out by the General Court’s decision in Austria v Commission. The aim of the analysis is to assess the contribution of the Governance Regulation to building a sustainable governance model and to more sensible decision-making on energy infrastructure projects when handling the energy trilemma, whilst retaining valuable lessons from the UK who exerted substantial influence on EU energy policy.

The paper can be found here www.ogel.org/article.asp?key=3828.