WindEurope has launched its Making Transition Work report today in Hamburg. The report details specific policy proposals on how Europe can remain a leading force in wind energy and renewables.
The report provides recommendations to policymakers on how to facilitate a swift transformation of the energy system and considers the policies that will make Europe the best choice for those investing in renewables.
The key policy recommendations set out in the report are:
Martin Neubert, Chief Strategy Officer at DONG Energy Wind Power, said: “Climate change is one of the key global challenges in the 21st century. The solution lies in action, innovation and scale. We want to be part of the solution and we believe that offshore wind is one of the answers. Offshore wind has made significant cost reductions thanks to bold and visionary political decisions in Europe, continued innovation, industrialisation and scale. And this has been achieved through a dedicated industry effort, with only 11GW of capacity rolled out in just a few years. That shows the great potential of offshore wind globally.”
Giles Dickson, CEO of WindEurope, said: “Wind energy is no longer a nice-to-have add-on in the power mix. It’s a mainstream and essential part of electricity supply, now able to meet up to 12% of Europe’s power needs. It has also become a mature and significant industry in its own right, now providing 330,000 jobs and billions of euros of European exports.”
“With all the talk about the transition to low-carbon, things should be looking good for the wind industry in Europe. But they’re not. Government policy on energy across Europe is less clear and ambitious than it was. Only 7 out of 28 EU Member States have targets and policies in place for renewables beyond 2020. We have dysfunctional electricity markets. The transition to auctions has been less smooth than it should have been. And we’re lacking long-term signals for investment.
“Europe is far from being no. 1 on renewables. China beats us on total volume and new installations, India on policy ambition, and the US in many areas of technology, especially on grid integration. We still have a competitive industry that’s winning orders overseas. But we will lose that competitiveness if we don’t have a strong domestic market.”