The European Commission has recently published a report entitled Do current regulatory frameworks in the EU support innovation and security of supply in electricity and gas infrastructure? The focus of the report is transmission networks which play a crucial role in enabling increased renewable energy, storage and security of supply, and in the integration of the European energy markets. The capacity to do this can be significantly improved by greater operating efficiency achieved through a variety of measures and by increased interconnection between national transmission systems. The report is particularly interesting in providing an insight into how innovation is treated in the various national regulatory frameworks and how regulation can be a force for driving growth through recognising and incentivising innovation.

The Arthur Cox Energy Group contributed to the Report and prepared the Irish Chapter which sets out the detailed sector information underpinning the Commission's findings.

This article contains a general summary of developments and is not a complete or definitive statement of the law. Specific legal advice should be obtained where appropriate.