Tempers seem to have frayed at yesterday’s EU Energy Council over the European Commission’s proposals for an EU-wide energy infrastructure package, the European Voice has reported.  Günther Oettinger, European Commissioner for energy, was “visibly frustrated” at the meeting of ministers after many of them said they could not accept transferring authority for energy infrastructure from regions to EU level, the website said.

The news comes as Energy Ministers across Europe were presented with a statement – supported by EWEA, Eurelectric, Europacable and 35 other organisations – calling for an internal EU market for energy and grid extensions and upgrades in order to boost security of supply, achieve our climate goals and bring more renewables online.

Representatives of the EU and the US agreed that a global climate change treaty is necessary and achievable at a debate Wednesday. However, while the EU saw achieving US legislation on the matter as crucial, the American line, surprisingly, was to dismiss the relevance of domestic climate change legislation.

Jos Delbeke, the European Commission’s Director General for Climate Change, expressed the EU’s disappointment at the lack of progress on the US legislation issue, particularly on the falling through of a proposed cap and trade scheme on carbon emissions.

“We would have liked to create a trans-Atlantic carbon market”, he said, adding that it was hard to see how the US would reach the 17% emission reduction target confirmed at the Cancun summit without a cap and trade system.

By Justin Wilkes

All 27 National Renewable Energy Action Plans have now been submitted to the European Commission. We at EWEA have done an analysis of the plans.  As expected they show that the EU as a whole will exceed its target of 20% of energy from renewables by 2020.

Taking all 27 National Renewable Energy Action Plans together we see that EU countries expect to meet 20.7% of their energy consumption from renewables.

This would mean that 34% of all electricity in the EU in 2020 would come from renewables – 14% from wind energy alone: making wind Europe’s leading renewable energy source.

The European Commission’s move to rein in coal subsidies by suggesting that unprofitable mines be shut down within the next four years has received wide coverage this morning. The move, announced yesterday and set for formal approval in December this year, would see the closure of hard coal mines located mainly in Germany’s Ruhr region, north-west Spain and Romania’s Jiu Valley.

The announcement is a signal that the European Commission firmly believes that renewable energies, including wind power, are the path to a carbon-neutral future:

“Renewable, clean energy is the way to go,” said European Commissioner for competition Joaquín Almunia, reported by EurActiv.

Leading environment group WWF said the Commission has finally “stood up to complacent attitudes and acted in the broader European interest”. In total, subsidies to the sector hit €3.2 billion in 2008, down from €6.4 billion in 2003, the Financial Times noted in its article.

The Ecocentric blog described coal subsidies as the “dirty secret of fossil fuels.” Coal receives tax payer support “even in environmentally friendly Europe.”

But the Commission’s proposal could hit opposition from some countries in Europe that are heavily reliant on hard coal. According to the New York Times Green Blog about a month ago, Spain, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania want to keep coal subsidies while the industry also employs around 100,000 people across Europe.

Meanwhile, EWEA foresees the creation of around 250,000 new jobs in the European wind industry by 2020.

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The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre has just released their annual ‘renewable energy snapshots’, confirming the strong growth of renewable energy in 2009. Their analysis chimes with ours: renewable energy sources accounted for 62% of new electricity generation capacity installed in the EU last year with wind power leading the way accounting for 38% of the total.

Positive news for our planet, and all the more so since the Commission predicts that if we maintain current growth rates, by 2020 renewables could account for 35-40% of overall electricity consumption.

“This would contribute significantly to the fulfilment of the 20% target for energy generation from renewables,” the Commission said in a press release.

On wind power in particular, the JRC paper says, “with more than 74 GW of total installed capacity in 2009, it has already exceeded the 2010 white paper target of 40GW by more than 80%.”

But, there is a note of caution attached to the good news: “Some issues need to be resolved if the targets are to be met,” the Commission said. This includes:
-    Ensuring fair access to grids
-    Substantial public R&D support
-    The adaptation of current electricity systems to accommodate renewable electricity

While we at EWEA look forward to a continued strong growth in the renewables sector, we strongly encourage the Commission to listen to the advice of its research centre, putting the policies in place that will ensure that these issues are solved.