The wind industry gathers in Copenhagen as Europe faces unprecedented competitiveness and security challenges. As a homegrown and affordable source of energy, wind is uniquely placed to help strengthen Europe’s energy security and competitiveness. But the build-out of wind is too slow today. The wind industry’s ‘Copenhagen Call for Action’ highlights 3 steps to boost Europe’s energy independence and competitiveness. BalticWind.EU is media partner of the WindEurope annual conference in Copenhagen.

Amid unprecedented economic insecurity, the EU’s new Clean Industrial Deal puts electrification and the accelerated build-out of renewables at the heart of Europe’s industrial strategy.

Wind is 20% of the electricity Europe consumes today. The EU wants it to be 35% by 2030 and over half by 2050.

And energy-intensive industries want more wind. It’s cheaper than fossil alternatives, even when the grid and system costs are taken into account. Wind helps European businesses to electrify and cut their energy costs. It’s a completely local source of energy so it strengthens energy security and removes the price volatility of imported fossil fuels.

The European wind energy supply chain is growing to deliver on the increased wind volumes Europe needs. It is currently investing over €11bn in new factories to meet the Clean Industrial Deal objectives. But Europe isn’t building enough new wind to support its competitiveness and energy security objectives. The main reasons are poor permitting, slow grid build-out, bad auction design and insufficient electrification. Electricity is still only 23% of energy consumption in Europe – China has overtaken that and is powering ahead on electrification.

The European wind industry calls on Governments to take 3 simple actions to boost Europe’s energy security and competitiveness, alongside the full and immediate implementation of the EU Clean Industrial Deal:

  • Apply the new EU permitting rules. They work wonders. Germany is now permitting 7x as much onshore wind as 5 years ago. And filter out zombie projects from grid connection queues – they’re clogging up the system.
  • Remove barriers to electrification. Let industry get state aid to electrify with renewable PPAs, which are not just for onsite power. Remove non-energy taxes and charges from electricity bills so renewables become an obvious choice for consumers.
  • De-risk wind investments with a stable pipeline of 2-sided Contract for Difference auctions. CfDs improve costs of capital and visibility on revenues and are good value for Governments.

Henrik Andersen, WindEurope Chairman said: “Europe is in a moment of transition. To secure European influence in the global economy, we need more secure, affordable and sustainable energy. Wind energy is already driving industrial growth and energy independence across Europe, we just need to scale up. This calls for increasing viable demand for wind energy, and strengthening wind’s market environment. WindEurope Copenhagen will be a critical opportunity for European Governments and industry to agree on how we can achieve this, together.”

Read the Copenhagen Call to Action

 

Source: WindEurope