As of January 18th, the European Parliament approved three key new energy propositions that will set the stage for the transition into a greener world. They voted to revise the Renewable Energy Directive and Energy Efficiency Directive. They also approved a new piece of legislation — the Governance Regulation.

This exciting news comes as a welcomed announcement to Restart Energy and consumers across the European Union as it makes our goal of moving to a renewable, solar-powered world that much simpler. It also paves the way for other forms of renewable energy (including wind, hydro, and biomass) to start being employed at a broader level.

Key Takeaways

Here are some of the key takeaways from these changes:

The amendments they made to the Renewable Energy Directive have added new rights that guarantee individual citizens and communities will have an equal playing field in participating and benefiting from the energy transition.

in participating and benefiting from the energy transition. These changes demonstrate that the Parliament is taking a strong stance to create a legal framework that ensures everyone is included in the energy transition (including people who do not own a home and those experiencing energy poverty).

(including people who do not own a home and those experiencing energy poverty). The Parliament agreed to set a renewable objective of 35% by 2030.

These changes are very appealing and will bring significant economic and social opportunities for communities across Europe to begin getting more involved in the transition towards renewable energy. Under these new laws, citizens will be brought along as the EU begins making progress, and the Parliament has acknowledged the importance of keeping everyone included and updated while these changes are made.

The example that this sets for the future of the EU is one where local ownership and a wealth renewable resources are incorporated to make sure that energy poverty becomes an issue of the past. These updates are going to help propel the EU forward to improved energy efficiency, smart grids, and local development.

Here at Restart Energy, we feel that the changes made and suggested by Parliament this week go hand-in-hand with supporting what the Restart Energy Democracy (RED) project is ultimately trying to achieve: a greener, more transparent energy industry that gives opportunities and choices to everyone.

We were also pleased to find out that government data coincides with our own studies, concluding that roughly 45% of homes in the EU could produce their own energy using renewable sources. These prosumers will not only find themselves welcome on the RED-Platform, but will also get much better prices than currently offered to them by large energy monopolies. Within our platform, via P2P energy trading, prosumers will get the same amount for their energy as big energy firms earn — as anyone selling energy earns, through free market forces.

Furthermore, due to the way our Green Certificates work, prosumers will find themselves in high demand — and our policy of allowing users to choose their own energy provider means that these prosumers might find their energy bought by friends and other members of their local community. This means that generating your own power and selling the excess will become that much more sustainable long-term.

In fact, the RED-Franchise business model could help many renewable energy cooperatives (HCNs), or even singular owners acquire RED franchises rights and start their own franchises, with improved technical support and expert advice from our experienced staff. All that they would need to do is own enough MWAT tokens: 10,000 MWAT for a city franchise, 100,000 MWAT for a regional franchise, 1 million MWAT tokens for a country franchise, or even 10 million MWAT if they want to be the only franchise in their country — this would also allow them to create sub-franchises!

Restart Energy also wishes to extend a special thank you to our advisor and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Cătălin Sorin Ivan, that helped push these propositions through! We are proud to have such forward-thinking elected officials as part of our advisory council!