Wind power development in Brazil, South America’s largest and most populated nation, has been much in the news recently with a report that more than 88% of the country’s electricity came from renewables last year.

The preliminary report from Brazil’s Energy Research Company has revealed that wind power increased more than any other renewable power source, responsible for a 24% increase between 2010 and 2011.

by Stephane Bourgeois, Head of Regulatory Affairs, EWEA

It’s a long and winding road to a post 2020 EU energy policy. Europe faces a policy void after 2020 when the main pillars of EU energy policy – targets for renewable energy, emissions and energy efficiency – run out. At the moment only the Emissions Trading System is set to continue after 2020. What Europe needs if it is to continue increasing its share of renewable energy, with all the economic growth and jobs that can create (as well as reducing our fuel import bill and the obvious environmental and climate benefits), is to put in place for 2030 a policy that works: a legally binding renewable energy target.

But for the second time Poland has blocked Council conclusions on the 2050 Roadmap which is the EU’s attempt to begin to fill that policy void. Today the Polish prevented the Energy Ministers from reaching a formal agreement on the 2050 Energy roadmap, and this follows doing the same last year with Environment Ministers on the overall 2050 Low Carbon Economy Roadmap (which covers energy, transport and other sectors).

Much has been made of the European Environment Agency (EEA)’s recent report that greenhouse gas emissions increased in 2010. But what is equally as interesting is the key role that renewables including wind played in containing further emissions growth.

The EEA reported last week that EU greenhouse gas increased by 2.4 % in 2010 as a result of economic recovery in many countries after the 2009 recession and a colder winter. “This rebound effect was expected as most of Europe came out of recession,” said EEA executive director Jacqueline McGlade. “However, the increase could have been even higher without the fast expansion of renewable energy generation in the EU,” she insisted.

Many of us take electricity for granted. It’s there in the morning when we turn on the kettle and it’s there at night when we switch the lights on. But are people aware of the need to upgrade and extend Europe’s electricity grids? Does anyone know that there is no EU-wide market for electricity and of the benefits that such a market could bring?

The results of a new study, which come as EU institutions debate the ‘infrastructure package’ – the European Commission’s draft proposals for updating and interconnecting EU electricity grids – show  just what people in Brussels think of electricity grids and the market. Here’s what they had to say:

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