Christian Kjaer, EWEA CEO

The European Wind Energy Association is celebrating its 30 year anniversary in 2012. This is an organisation that has gone from humble beginnings when a small group of engineers in Stockholm in 1982 first discussed it, to now speaking for 700 members in almost 60 countries around the world. The growth of EWEA has mirrored the growth of the industry.

EWEA initially represented what was seen as an ‘alternative’ power source. It quickly became the voice of a multi-billion wind industry, one which employs hundreds of thousands of people in the EU and exports European technology around the world.

In a recent interview, the chief economist at the International Energy Agency (IEA) Fatih Birol pointed out that “fossil fuel subsidies are a hand brake as we drive along the road to a sustainable energy future. Removing them would take us half way to a trajectory that would hold us to 2C.”

Mr. Birol is of course referring to the fuel subsidies that governments around the world give towards lowering the price of fossil fuels, such as the $409bn spent by 37 governments in 2010. He is also referring to the fact that these subsidies encourage the use of polluting substances, and that eliminating the subsidies would go a long way towards achieving the goal of limiting global warming to 2 degrees.

EU Energy ministers will, for the first time, discuss the European Commission’s draft proposals for a €9.1 billion infrastructure package published in October.

At discussions in Luxembourg today, they will hear a first “exchange of views” on the plan, in which “electricity networks must be upgraded and modernised to meet increasing electricity demand”. The proposal aims not only at the physical infrastructure for energy, but also at the “full integration of the internal energy market”, to “ensure security of supply in the Union, to promote energy efficiency and…the interconnection of energy networks”, a European Council briefing said.

It was standing room only in the Brussels Press Club for the EWEA Public Debate. Over 125 people came to hear the four expert speakers and questions put to them on the topic “Energy Infrastructure – the next great European project?”.

The big news of the night came from Michael Köhler, Head of Cabinet of Commissioner Oettinger in the European Commission. He announced that in the first half of 2012 the Commission will release two communications affecting the whole electricity sector. The first will be about further supporting renewables and the issue of different support schemes in different EU member states. The second, intriguingly, will be about market integration, but Köhler refused to comment further on the issue when questioned.

Today sees the launch of the Free Movement of Electricity website, along with a Facebook page – all on the same day as the beginning of a concentrated effort to bring attention to the vital need for freedom for electricity in the European Union.

The movement is being coordinated by EWEA,  Europacable and EURELECTRIC, in partnership with (in alphabetical order); AEBIOM, Business Europe, E3G, European Climate Foundation, European Copper Institute, EGEC, EPIA, EREC, ESTELA, Friends of the Supergrid, GWEC and Lewiatan. Each one of these partners brings their network of supporters and considerable talents to the table, ensuring that the message of free movement of electricity is spread far and wide.