While the interinstitutional negotiations on the Renewable Energy Directive were concluded on 31 March with an agreement to increase the share of renewable energy to 42.5% of overall energy consumption by 2030 (see EUROPE 13153/1), the Ember think tank published a report on 28 March on the state of play of wind and solar energy deployment in the European Union.
If these two types of energy production are the dominant technologies for driving Europe’s energy transition, “faster deployment is needed in order to fully decarbonise the power system in the 2030s”, the report says.
In 2022, wind and solar set annual installation records in the EU, with 16.1 GW of additional installations for wind and 41.4 GW of additional installations for solar, but the report highlights challenges for the massive development of both renewable energy sources.
For wind, Ember points to recurring bottlenecks, such as problems with permitting (at least 80 GW of wind projects are reportedly “blocked” across Europe) or the lack of investment in grid connection and expansion.
For solar, Ember specifically warns of “many risks and areas where inaction could derail solar growth, from supply chain disruption at a global level (in a context where a single country, China, dominates) to labour shortages at a local level”.
To see Ember’ s report: https://aeur.eu/f/69w (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)