Dr. Klaus-Dieter Borchardt
Senior Energy Advisor
Baker & McKenzie CVBA/SCRL
Not admitted to practice law in this jurisdiction
Biography
Prof. Dr. Klaus-Dieter Borchardt is a Senior Energy Advisor at the European & Competition Law Practice in the Baker McKenzie Brussels office. He joined the Firm in 2020.
Klaus-Dieter worked for 33 years at the European Commission, including four years at the European Court of Justice. When he left the European Commission, he was Deputy Director-General for Energy.
Klaus-Dieter is also an expert in EU Law, having spent 12 years in the Commissions' Legal Service where he was responsible for state aid, internal market and agriculture.
He is a Teaching Professor Bavarian Julius-Maximilians-University - Würzburg, Germany (since 2001), and a Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES). He is author of a standard textbook on EU Law and co-editor of a commentary of the EU Treaties.
Practice Focus
During his 33 years at the European Commission, Klaus-Dieter Borchardt was instrumental in many major developments in EU Law and EU Energy Law and Policy. He played a key role in the evolution of the legal framework of the European state aid control, notably the establishment of private market investor tests. He was the central EU official in the recent reform of the European electricity market design as part of the 'Clean Energy for all Europeans' package. He chaired the Connecting Europe Facility's evaluation committee as well as the European gas, electricity and infrastructure fora.
Representative Legal Matters
- Advised multiple clients on the EU’s recent energy price crisis, including the identification of existing legal means to adapt to such high prices and the contribution to the public debate on national and EU-level policy design to respond to the crisis.
- Assisted and advised a multinational investor group with the analysis of the general electricity market framework and the framework for renewable electricity subsidies and public support on an EU-wide level.
- Advised a consortium of companies on the current and future European framework for underground hydrogen storage activities in Europe.
- Assisted a multinational gas companies on the competition aspect of strategy for the future investment in both hydrogen networks and hydrogen production activities.
- Successfully assisted a large EU energy company on its application to obtain national funding for their new renewable hydrogen production project, using an innovative State aid approach (involving the framework for Important Projects of Common European Interest - IPCEI).
- Assisted a national energy company with the designation of a pumped-storage plant as a critical cross-border energy infrastructure at EU level, in order to enable this project to receive EU funding.
- Assisted a group of electricity power producers in examining the compatibility of the upcoming Greek electricity market reform with existing EU energy law.
- Assisted one of Europe’s biggest Real Estate Company in the development of a company strategy for the revision of the performance of buildings directive and the energy efficiency directive
- Assisted with development of the design of – and with the analysis of the political and constitutional feasibility of implementing – a national regulatory framework for hydrogen, in particular hydrogen infrastructure, pre-empting European legislation.
- Assisted a large international oil & gas company with developing its legal and policy strategy with the aim of adapting to the European Union’s energy and climate agenda, including in particular its strategy with respect to the deployment of renewables and low-carbon hydrogen projects.
- Assisted with the national process for the design and implementation of a subsidy scheme to compensate large industrial companies for indirect costs linked to the penetration of renewable electricity on the national grid.
Education
- Free University of Berlin (Dr. jur.) (1985)
- High Court of Hamburg (Second State Examination) (1985)
- University of Hamburg (First State Exam) (1979)
Languages
- English
- French
- German