Football fans know the value of a hat-trick – the triumvirate of goals that prove success for any striker. Though difficult to achieve, the hat-trick is worth striving for.

The European Renewable Energy Council (EREC) also wants to score a hat-trick. Their new publication proposes three targets to drive EU energy policy after 2020: renewable energy, greenhouse gas emissions and energy efficiency.

“This would yield more benefits for European citizens and industries than a one-legged policy” based on a greenhouse gas only approach, say EREC.

“The message is simple: if you want to lower costs, create jobs, replace fossil fuel imports and drive innovation, competitiveness and investment, then a hat-trick of climate and energy goals works best”, said Rainer Hinrich-Rahlwes, President of EREC.

New York City

Wind energy could play a major role in providing all the power needed for the entire state of New York by 2030, according to a new academic study.

New York’s power demand for all sectors in 17 years time could be met, in part, by 4,020 onshore 5-megawatt wind turbines and 12,770 offshore 5-MW machines, the study by researchers from Cornell, Stanford and the University of California-Davis found.

Harnessing power from water and sunlight would also be part of the alternative energy plan for New York, which has close to 20 million people and is the third most populated state in the US.

“Converting to wind, water and sunlight is feasible, will stabilize costs of energy and will produce jobs while reducing health and climate damage,” study co-author Mark Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford, was quoted as saying.

Poland is the biggest wind energy market in the EU’s newer Member States, but wobbles in government support have made investors nervous. We spoke to Ewa Kurdyła, Director of the Polish Wind Energy Association, to find out what’s going on…

 Poland’s National Renewable Energy Action Plan indicates that cumulative wind capacity should increase by an average of 500 MW per year to reach 6,650 MW in 2020 – do you think this will happen?

Despite significant growth of the wind energy sector in the recent years it may be very difficult to meet our targets – in particular for 2020. This is caused by the lack of regulations enabling a stable development of the sector. In recent months the mood among the investors has been very bad. However, we mustn’t forget that the true market potential of wind energy in Poland by 2020 is approximately 11.5 GW onshore and 1.5 GW offshore, according to the independent Renewable Energy Institute.

These figures are much higher than those in the Polish National Renewable Energy Action Plan. Therefore, I think that in the long term the industry may substantially increase its share in the national energy mix. This is primarily due to technological development. The climate of political will, which today determines the development of renewables, may also be of key importance.

By Caitríona Diviney, Chief Operating Officer,  Irish Wind Energy Association

80% of the Irish public support wind power, an opinion poll from Ipsos MRBI conducted on behalf of the Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA), the national wind energy association in Ireland, has revealed.

This is a clear indication that there is widespread support for wind energy in Ireland.

The strong support for wind should also serve as a positive marker for policy-makers to continue the transition to a green economy and embrace all of the benefits that can be accrued by all.

Headlines in the German media have said recently that Germany’s offshore wind sector could be facing support cuts, on top of suffering from the already costly grid connection delays. So what is the future of German offshore wind power? We spoke to Andreas Wagner, CEO of the Offshore Wind Foundation (Stiftung Offshore-Windenergie) and part of the team negotiating with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to try and find out…

 EWEA Germany’s Environment Minister Peter Altmaier has proposed to substantially change the law for financial support for renewable energy in Germany. Could the offshore wind industry be affected by the same retroactive changes we’ve seen in other EU countries?

Wagner On 21 March, Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed all options to change the EEG-law [the current law supporting renewable energy – ed] with the Prime Ministers of the 16 German Länder. As a result of this so-called ‘energy summit’, we will definitely not face retroactive changes for projects for which legally binding contracts have been signed. I doubt if other changes in the EEG will or can be made before the German federal elections in September.

EWEA What were the arguments raised with Chancellor Merkel?