Dear Colleagues,

European energy markets are in transformation. The European Green Deal, preceded by the 2016 Winter Package, initiated a fundamental change in the energy policy of the European Union. New technologies, the need to implement a quick energy transition towards renewable energy, the participation of consumers as active players face old and still unsolved issues such as energy security or availability. Policy and regulatory changes to adapt the European energy sector to these new realities and technologies were undertaken. However, the need for fast adoption to pressing needs has not stopped. The European energy transformation has now been reinforced by the proposal of the ‘Fit for 55’ package in 2021, which sets itself an even more ambitious goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 (compared with 1990).

Such an ambitious goal requires rethinking the strategy of clean energy supply across the economy, together with regulatory and policy updates. These challenges and changes have also put forth that the need to modify the current climate and energy policy does not only apply to the energy sector itself. Although greater involvement in renewable energy sources (especially offshore wind farms) or, in general, new energy technologies (e.g., hydrogen technologies, biomethane) is desirable, a new approach is also necessary for other areas of the economy, i.e., production and consumption, large infrastructure. scale, transport, food and agriculture, construction, as well as taxation and social benefits. Only close synergy in these areas will allow the benefits of clean, affordable, and safe energy to be achieved.

The journal Energies is aware of these challenges. This is why we aim to publish this Special Issue “New Trends in the European Energy Sector: Legal, Economic, and Policy Aspects”, in which invited contributions are amassed, examining new trends in the European energy sector from different viewpoints—legal, economic, and policy. We encourage potential authors to submit papers related to the following themes:

• New trends in the European energy sector: the Energy Union, and, on the other hand, supporting the local/citizenly energy sector;
• The role and place of selected technologies (e.g., hydrogen technologies, biomethane, offshore wind, solar) in the energy transformation process;
• Energy storage;
• Market and sector coupling;
• Diversification of gas supplies;
• European energy markets interconnection and cross-border infrastructure;
• Changes in the energy sector resulting from the development of electromobility;
• Carbon capture and storage;
• Energy in times of economic crisis (influence of the crisis on energy supplies, functioning of the energy market and the problem of so-called energy poverty);
• Cybersecurity in the energy sector;
• COVID-19 pandemic and the EU's energy security;
• COVID-19 pandemic and the EU climate policy;
• COVID-19 pandemic and local energy.

Dr. Michał Krzykowski
Prof. Dr. Jakub Zięty
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• new technologies in the energy sector (e.g., hydrogen technologies, biomethane)
• offshore wind farms
• biofuels
• legal aspects of the energy sector
• competition in the energy market
• energy policy
• energy in times of economic crisis
• financing the energy transformation
• energy transition
• bio-based economy
• digitization in the energy sector
• COVID-19 pandemic in the EU's energy sector
• investment financing and state aid in the energy sector
• local energy communities
• FIT 55 Strategy