Opportunities in EU case law for achieving Dutch sustainable energy targets: it's up to the Netherlands to seize them

This article draws on recent case law of the European Court of Justice to examine the opportunities available in European Union law to promote the generating of electricity from renewable sources within the Dutch system for managing congestion in the electricity grid (CMS) and for allocating the costs of this system. EU law has been found to offer considerable scope for prioritising electricity generated from renewable sources. Unfortunately, the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs has not given sufficient consideration to the opportunities available in EU law to justify the Dutch congestion
management and cost-differentiation system and has provisionally maintained the principle of socialising the costs by passing them on to all Dutch energy consumers. In this respect, he has all too easily disregarded the other opportunities available in EU law for allocating the costs of the Dutch congestion management system.