The RES Directive sets binding national targets for all EU Member States to reach an overall renewable energy sources contribution of 20% in the EU final energy consumption by 2020. These national 2020 RES targets are defined according to their GDP while taking into account the already existing share of renewables, which however does not explicitly reflect the national resource availability.

In order to take into account these differences in resources, to increase the efficiency of support of renewable energy, to optimize the overall system and to contribute to the gradual establishment of an internal market, the RES Directive introduces the Cooperation Mechanisms (Articles 6 to 11 of the Directive). All Cooperation Mechanisms provide Member States with an option to agree on cross-border support of RES. Thereby, one country can partly make use of the more cost-efficient RES potentials of another country. By joining forces, Member States may explore potentials which otherwise would have remained untapped and achieve efficiency gains of their shared support for renewables.

So far, the use of Cooperation Mechanisms has been very limited. Against this background, the Commission in its Communication “COM 2012 (271) final” on “Renewable Energy: a major player in the European energy market” calls for an increased use of the Cooperation Mechanism and seeks to address these aforementioned barriers. It announces for the first half of 2013 guidance for the implementation of the Cooperation Mechanisms as well as best practices and experiences on support schemes to encourage greater predictability, cost effectiveness, avoid over-compensation, and to develop greater consistency (that is, convergence) across Member States’ support schemes.

This project relates to above sketched topics and has two overarching objectives. On the one hand, it will provide an in-depth analytical and scientific background on Cooperation Mechanisms and best practices related to support schemes. On the other hand, it will provide practical guidance and assistance for all relevant parties that seek to engage in and implement one or more of the Cooperation Mechanisms.