Archive
International News Services archives articles supplied to clients one year or more after initial publication. These articles are protected by a password and not made available to readers without permission from clients. They are used as a background resource by agency journalists. Upon client requests, International News Services will remove such articles from the archive or not upload them in the first place. They are included to demonstrate the breadth of topics undertaken by the agency and also to help promote clients’ coverage.
TERMINAL EQUIPMENT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Commission report has called for a technical review of the European Union’s (EU) radio and telecommunications terminal equipment directive (R&TTE) to ensure that it does not hamper the development of new telecommunication technologies. Brussels is concerned, for instance, that by restricting spectrum bands available for new UltraWideBand and radio local area networking technologies (WiFi), the directive could be stunting these markets.…
PPP PUBLIC PROCUREMENT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission wants comments on how far public-private partnerships (PPP) should be bound by European Union (EU) public procurement rules on open tendering. Brussels is concerned that the wide variety of PPPs, (contractual, cooperative, institutionalised, etc), is leading EU member countries to create divergent rules on how these partnerships buy goods and services.…
BULGARIA POWER PLANT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
BULGARIA has announced it will build a second nuclear power plant to replace the outdated Kozloduy power station, which the European Union (EU) insists should be closed by 2006. Construction will take place at Belene, in northern Bulgaria where work started on building a 1,000-megawatt plant in 1987, but ceased in 1991 following environmental campaigns.…
MARATHON CASE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
MARATHON by name and nature, the European Commission has closed a gas network access case involving the Norwegian subsidiary of American gas producer Marathon, after negotiations stretching from the 1990’s. The deal, involving French and German gas companies Gaz de France (GdF) and Ruhrgas, allows the Commission to close a competition file that has also sparked pipeline access deals with German companies BEB and Thyssengas, plus Dutch company Gasunie.…
EASTERN ENERGY TAXATION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EASTERN and southern European countries who have now joined the European Union (EU) have been granted requested stays of execution over the implementation of common rules on energy taxation that were agreed last year for the old EU.…
RUSSIA ELECTRICITY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is planning to finance an overhaul of Russia’s electricity transmission system, raising its standards to those applied in western and central Europe, boosting exports of excess power. Its loan package – whose value has yet been set – would finance the installation of a new IT system managing electricity flows (a SCADA/EMS supervisory control and data acquisition/energy management system).…
ESTONIA OIL SHALE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
NEW EUROPEAN Union (EU) member country Estonia has been lent Euro 80 million by the European Investment Bank (EIB) to renovate and extend its electricity transmission and distribution systems. The loan to Eesti Energia AS should reduce its operational and maintenance costs, enable it to meet expected residential electricity demand growth and increase cross-border sales.…
NETHERLANDS WASTE-ENERGY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE DUTCH government should be censured by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for excessively restricting hazardous waste exports from the Netherlands when it is earmarked for energy generation in another country via incineration, an ECJ advocate general has advised.…
HUNGARY EIB
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) is lending E.ON Hungária Euro 125 million to boost the efficiency of Hungary’s electricity and transmission networks, as part of a Euro 650 million package, a significant portion of which is destined for utility projects.…
SLOVENIA TRANSMISSION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SLOVENIA should be allowed to continue allocating half of its cross-border electricity transmission capacity free of charge to certain industrial users until July 2007 via a derogation from the 2003 EU regulation on such exchanges, the European Commission has proposed.…