The capacity of Installed wind power capacity in Europe is not growing fast enough in light of the European Union’s climate and energy objectives, warned WindEurope, an organisation representing the European wind industry, in a new report that was published on Thursday 25 February.
According to this document, 14.7 gigawatts (GW) of new wind power facilities were constructed in Europe in 2020 (10.5 GW if only the EU is taken into account), which is 19% less than the organisation had predicted before the Covid-19 pandemic.
WindEurope estimates that the EU would need to install 27 GW of new wind turbines per year between 2021 and 2025 in order to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030.
The organisation has also pointed the finger at the slowness and complexity of the process of issuing permits, which discourages developers from pursuing new projects.
“Permitting rules and procedures are too complex. There are not enough people working in the permitting authorities to process permit applications”, said Giles Dickson, who is the director of WindEurope.
Europe’s total wind energy capacity currently stands at 220 GW of energy, said the report. See the report: https://bit.ly/2NDLvVw (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)