Europe Tops its Renewables Targets

Renewable energy in the European Union (EU) has outpaced its 2010 target and is on track to beat the union's goals for 2020, says the European Energy Council (EREC).

September 30, 2010 | 4 Comments

EU objectives for this year set out in a 1997 white paper have consistently been overhauled, with 16 GW of PV over target by five times, 1 GW of geothermal heat by three times, and 75 GW of wind by 80%, says EREC.

This trend is now set to continue for European targets for 2020, when the EU aims for 20% of energy to come from renewables, said EREC secretary-general Christine Lins.

“Even in economically challenging times, we are convinced that Europe will not only meet the binding target for 2020 of at least 20%, but clearly surpass it,” she said.

EREC added that the 21 National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAPs) – plans submitted to the European Commission to outline strategies to meet the 20% target – give further grounds for optimism, with 13 EU states expecting to beat this figure.

In its recent ‘EU energy trends to 2030’ report, the commission is also upbeat on the 20% target, while anticipating that new capacity will plunge after 2020 so that renewables only edge up to 22.8% of energy by 2030.

But EREC sees this outlook as unduly gloomy.

"Given the progress in recent years and the forecasts on the expansion of renewables by member states themselves, it is surprising that the commission assumes that there will be a significant drop in renewables investments after 2020,” said EREC president Arthouros Zervos.

He was speaking on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of EREC, an umbrella organisation of European renewable industry, trade and research organisations.

We are convinced that Europe will not only meet the binding target for 2020 of at least 20%, but clearly surpass it -- Christine Lins, secretary-general, EREC

4 Comments

Allen Gerhardt
October 11, 2010

I do not think renewable energy investment will drop off as projected in this report. As people see the advantages, the general public will call for the end of dirty industry. As fossil fuel prices inevitably rise and costs of renewable systems come down in price, the economics will show renewable energy systems as the superior methods of power generation.

Richard .
October 1, 2010

@avanderbom
Off shore wind energy is small at the moment, but it will boom in the North Sea area in the current decade. My guesstimate is that by 2020 annually there will be installed more new MW offshore wind power than MW onshore.

Anne van der Bom
October 1, 2010

20% in 2020 and 22.8? After some searching, they seem to apply to gross final demand, but the 22.8 I can not see in the table on page 47 (49 according to acrobat). The projection for 2030 is 22.2%. Even worse.

The interesting thing that I take from this report is that the growth in energy demand will largely undo the increase of RES share. Focus on energy efficiency remains of the utmost importance. Otherwise it's like mopping up water with the tap still running.

Another thing that I found iteresting is that, compared to the 2007 baseline, they have significantly increased (4-6 fold) the forecasts for offshore wind and solar. That's a big difference in only 2 years, proof that renewable energy is a very dynamic field that is hard to predict. Two years from now, things may look completely different again.