Evaluation of exemptions notified under Article 14(6) of the Energy Efficiency Directive

Article 14 (6) of the Energy Efficiency Directive allows Member States exempting installations from the requirements of conducting a cost-benefit analysis of individual installations as stated by Article 14 (5). For instance, Member States may lay down thresholds, expressed in terms of the amount of available useful waste heat, the demand for heat or the distances between industrial installations and district heating networks.

This report compares EU Member States' notifications on exemptions concerning laying down thresholds with general benchmark thresholds and with thresholds estimated through a general techno-economic model. The report also provides recommendations how the exemptions thresholds ought to be defined, in order not to a priori exclude feasible heat linking options.