Transparent, non-discriminatory grid access to electricity produced from renewable energy sources must be ensured and administrative barriers to their development lifted, the Commission told member states on Wednesday (7 December).
"More than half of the EU member states are not giving enough support to green electricity," the Commission concluded as it published its second progress report on national support mechanisms for 'green' electricity in the EU.
However, the EU executive's assessment of national support schemes concludes that it would be "premature to propose a harmonised European support scheme" for renewable electricity as of yet. Competing national schemes, it argues, "can be healthy in a transitional period, as more experience needs to be gained".
The report found that "feed-in tariffs, which are fixed prices for green electricity and used in the majority of member states, are currently in general cheaper and more effective than so called quota systems, especially in the case of wind energy".
But the electricity grid is still not adapted to 'green' electricity, the Commission points out. "Grid infrastructure development should be undertaken, with the associated costs covered by grid operators," it said.
"Governments need to step up efforts to cooperate among themselves and optimise their support schemes as well as to remove administrative and grid barriers for green electricity," the Commission recommended.
