Some Recent EU Law Developments Concerning Renewable Energy: Free Movement and State Aid

Renewable energy has been an EU law topic of growing importance and no little controversy. Ever since the Court’s judgment in PreussenElektra in 2001, difficult questions concerning the free movement of goods and the scope of the EU rules on State aid have contributed to a degree of uncertainty, both in the energy sector and among general EU law scholars. Legislative interventions in the form of two Directives on renewable energy (alongside recent developments in the internal energy market legislation) offered some possible answers, but questions remained. This paper will look at the Court’s recent judgments in Ålands Vindkraft and Essent Belgium (both 2014), alongside aspects of the Commission’s Energy and Environmental Aid Guidelines of April 2014.