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Europe’s energy future changed today
European Wind Energy Association—09 December 2008
Brussels , 9
December 2008
For the European Wind Energy
Association (EWEA)the Renewable Energy Directiveagreed todayconfirms
Europe as the leader of the energy revolution
the world needs. The target means that more than one third of EU electricity
must come from renewables in 2020 and wind energy will be the biggest
contributor. Moreoverthe directive addresses existing barriers that prevent
Europe from fully exploiting its largest
domestic energy resource.
“Today tomorrow changed. The European
Parliament and the Council have agreed the world’s most important energy law”
stated Christian KjaerEWEA Chief Executive. “
Europe has turned away from transferring ever larger amounts of
European citizens’ wealth to a handful of fuel-exporting nationsopting instead
to put the money to work at home and exploit our abundant domestic renewable
energy resources.”
For the first timeeach Member State
“The grid and administrative barriers whose
shadows loom long over wind energy project developers will finally be tackled
throughout Europe thanks to the directive.
FurthermoreMember States will be able to work together to meet their targets
under stable market conditionswhich will give investments in the wind energy
sector a boost. One can only hope that the EU governments show the same degree
of cohesioncommitment and clarity during the global climate negotiations in
Poznan
The directive means that more than one-third
of the EU’s electricity will come from renewable energy in 2020 – up from 15% in
2005. By 2020wind energy is expected to have overtaken hydropower as the EU’s
largest source of renewable electricity.
TodayEurope
responded to the global energy and climate crisis by adopting a
strategy to further developdeploy and export renewable energy technology to a
carbon- and fuel-constrained world. The decision will also help the EU face the
current economic turmoilas wind energy provides jobsreduce electricity
costsenergy independenceimports and fuel price risks. It is a truly historic
day.
Agreement
between the European Parliament and the 27 EU Member States was reached this
morning following a meeting of Energy Ministers yesterday.
For a more detailed
reaction and commentary on different sections of the Renewable Energy Directive
see EWEA's special briefing page .
Note to
editors: the table below gives an indication of the probably share of
renewable electricity coming from different renewable energy sources in
2020.
Renewables' contribution to EU electricity
consumption up to 2020
Type of energy
2005 Eurostat TWh
2006 Eurostat TWh
2010 Projections TWh
2020 Targets TWh
Wind
70.5
82
176
477 (34.8%)
Hydro
346.9
357.2
360
384 (28%)
Photovoltaic
1.5
2.5
20
180 (13.1%)
Biomass
80
89.9
135
250 (18.3%)
Geothermal
5.4
5.6
10
31 (2.3%)
Solar thermal elect
-
-
2
43 (3.1%)
Ocean
-
-
1
5 (0.4%)
Total RES
504.3
537.2
704
1370
Total Gross Electricity Generation EU-27
3320.4
3361.5
(Trends to 2030-baseline)
3568
4078
(Combined RES and EE)
3391
Share of RES
15.20%
16.00%
19.70%
33.6-40.4%
European Renewable Energy Council: European
Renewable Technology Roadmap
2008
Isabelle
Valentiny
tel: +32 2 502 19 81
fax: +32 2 546 19 44
Note to editors:
tel: +32 2 502 19 81
fax: +32 2 546 19 44
Note to editors:
- EWEA is the voice of the wind industryactively promoting the utilisation of wind power in Europe and worldwide. It now has over 500 members from 50 countriesincluding manufacturers with a 90% share of the world wind power marketplus component suppliersresearch institutesnational wind and renewables associations developerselectricity providersfinance and insurance companies and consultants. This combined strength makes EWEA the world’s largest and most powerful wind energy network.
