Brussels, 27/06/20132 (Agence Europe) - With a 13% share across the EU in 2011, the 2020 target for green energies is on track but the industry wants more regulatory stability.
Drawing from the Keep on Track! Project roadmap unveiled during sustainable energy week, a consortium of renewable energy sector participants, members of the European Renewable Energies Council (EREC), called this week on member states to guarantee regulatory stability through their policies on green energy to ensure that the 20% target is achieved by 2020.
In a press release, EREC stated: “It's plain sailing for the 21 member states that have already achieved their 2012 targets in 2011. However, there are worrying signs on the horizon is current growth rates are insufficient to meet the 2020 targets. EU member states should create and implement predictable and stable legislative frameworks are renewable energy sources”. #
A research project focused on each of the three areas that use renewable energies (electricity, transport and heating/air conditioning) in 11 member states - Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Spain, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, the United Kingdom and Sweden - reveals that only three, Austria, Italy and Sweden, are likely to reach their 2020 target. There are serious doubts about Germany, Bulgaria, Greece and Portugal reaching their targets, while Belgium, Spain, Poland and the United Kingdom are also unlikely to reach their target.
EREC believes that many obstacles are preventing the 2020 targets from being reached. This is because, according to EREC, most of the strategies and legislation on renewables contain shortcomings, characterised by a lack of long-term vision from political decision-makers and obscure national legislative frameworks. The instability of national support mechanisms and the insufficient level of assistance for certain technologies is another obstacle to the three sectors using renewables. Insufficient information, knowledge and/or skills in the professional sector and among decision makers are also criticised.
This organisation is therefore calling for the elaboration and implementation of stable and predictable legislative frameworks for green energies, as well as an end to administrative barriers, the implementation of this single energy market, fossil fuel and CO2 price reliability and a thorough analysis of energy prices and the existing price deficit in certain member states. (EH/transl.fl)