Brussels, Belgium: As the European Parliament adopted in plenary its resolution on an EU Strategy on Heating and Cooling, COGEN Europe has issued a communiqué stating that it welcomes the European Parliament’s own initiative report as a call for improved legislative environment for highly energy-efficient cogeneration (CHP) installations.

The European association for the promotion of cogeneration said that the decision-makers went beyond endorsing the Commission’s Heating and Cooling Strategy in calling member states and the European Commission to undertake specific actions on a wide range of issues.

The association said that it is particularly pleased to see that the European Parliament “calls for specific sustainable heating and cooling strategies to be developed at national level, giving special attention to combined heat and power, cogeneration, district heating and cooling, preferably based on renewables, as is stated in Article 14 of the Energy Efficiency Directive”. It further said that MEPs also call on the European Commission to strengthen without delay European CHP policies and “to establish a common European framework to promote and provide legal certainty for self-generation”.

The report, the association highlighted, also rightly stresses the need to jointly consider generation and consumption, which can tremendously reduce energy losses and CO₂ emissions.

Commenting on the resolution, Roberto Francia, Managing Director of COGEN Europe, said: “the European Parliament has clearly spoken in favour of better CHP policies now. We expect this to be reflected in the forthcoming proposals to be issued by the European Commission, notably the revised Energy Efficiency Directive and the Market Design Initiative. This is all the more important if we want to achieve a successful energy transition”.

COGEN Europe said that it will continue its dialogue with the EU institutions in the coming months in order to improve the current legislative environment for CHP operators and CHP developers alike.