Security of supply refers to governmental policies that aim to secure the availability of critical products at all times. The COVID-19 pandemic brought to fore the importance of such policies, as suddenly there was an overwhelming need for critical medical supplies that the markets were not able to fulfil. Following the pandemic, the EU has started to construct its own security of supply policy, although lacking an explicit competence for it. This Article shows how competence on security of supply is actually split between the EU and the Member States, and highlights the consequences of this division.

Electric power sectors around the world have changed dramatically in the last 25 years as a result of sector liberalization policies. Many electricity sectors are now pursuing deep decarbonization goals which will entail replacing dispatchable fossil generation primarily with intermittent renewable generation (wind and solar) over the next 20–30 years. This transition creates new challenges for both short-term wholesale market design and investment incentives consistent with achieving both decarbonization commitments and security of supply criteria. Thinking broadly about the options for institutional change from a Williamsonian perspective – thinking like Williamson – provides a useful framework for examining institutional adaptation. Hybrid markets that combine ‘competition for the market’ that relies on competitive procurement for long-term purchased power agreements with wind, solar, and storage developers, ideally in a technology neutral fashion, and ‘competition in the market’ that relies on short-term markets designed to produce efficient and reliable operations of intermittent generation and storage, is identified as a promising direction for institutional adaptation. Many auction, contract, and market integration issues remain to be resolved.

This article discusses the decision of the Panel of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the EU–Energy Package dispute between the Russian Federation and the European Union (EU) and certain of its Members. This decision is an important milestone in the history of the WTO. First, it presents a good example of how international economic disputes concerning politically sensitive matters, such as energy security, may be resolved in a pragmatic way, by adhering to multilateral trade rules of the WTO. Second, as the first WTO decision to address a Member's regulatory regime for natural gas, it reminds the WTO community that energy trade is not an alien subject for the WTO. In this article, we discuss some of the Panel's findings that may have significance for other similar cases, and examine the implications of these findings for the EU's internal gas market and energy security. The Panel's decision is currently under appeal with a ruling by the WTO Appellate Body not expected before the end of 2019. Hence, the outcome of this dispute remains uncertain.