Europe's Energy Future Changed Today

Brussels (ots/PRNewswire) - For the European Wind Energy
Association (EWEA), the Renewable Energy Directive, agreed today,
confirms Europe as the leader of the energy revolution the world
needs. The target means that more than one third of EU electricity
must come from renewables in 2020 and wind energy will be the biggest
contributor. Moreover, the directive addresses existing barriers that
prevent Europe from fully exploiting its largest domestic energy
resource.

"Today tomorrow changed. The European Parliament and the Council
have agreed the world's most important energy law" stated Christian
Kjaer, EWEA Chief Executive. "Europe has turned away from
transferring ever larger amounts of European citizens' wealth to a
handful of fuel-exporting nations, opting instead to put the money to
work at home and exploit our abundant domestic renewable energy
resources."

For the first time, each Member State has a legally binding
renewables target for 2020 along with a clear trajectory to follow.
By June 2010 the Member States will draw up National Action Plans
detailing the ways in which they are to meet their 2020 targets,
which will then be submitted to the Commission for assessment. They
will report on how they are doing every two years. These measures
will lead to real progress in the 27 countries.

"The grid and administrative barriers whose shadows loom long
over wind energy project developers will finally be tackled
throughout Europe thanks to the directive. Furthermore, Member States
will be able to work together to meet their targets under stable
market conditions, which will give investments in the wind energy
sector a boost. One can only hope that the EU governments show the
same degree of cohesion, commitment and clarity during the global
climate negotiations in Poznan over the coming days," said Kjaer.

The directive means that more than one-third of the EU's
electricity will come from renewable energy in 2020 - up from 15% in
2005. By 2020, wind energy is expected to have overtaken hydropower
as the EU's largest source of renewable electricity.

Today, Europe responded to the global energy and climate crisis
by adopting a strategy to further develop, deploy and export
renewable energy technology to a carbon- and fuel-constrained world.
The decision will also help the EU face the current economic turmoil,
as wind energy provides jobs, reduce electricity costs, energy
independence, imports and fuel price risks. It is a truly historic
day.

Agreement between the European Parliament and the 27 EU Member
States was reached this morning following a meeting of Energy
Ministers yesterday.

For a more detailed reaction and commentary on different sections
of the Renewable Energy Directive, see EWEA's special briefing page.
(http://www.ewea.org/index.php?id=1581)

Note to editors: the table below gives an indication of the
probably share of renewable electricity coming from different
renewable energy sources in 2020.

Renewables' contribution to EU electricity consumption up to 2020
Type of energy 2005 2006 2010 2020
Eurostat Eurostat Projections Targets
TWh TWh TWh TWh
Wind 70.5 82 176 477 (34.8%)
Hydro 346.9 357.2 360 384 (28%)
Photovoltaic 1.5 2.5 20 180 (13.1%)
Biomass 80 89.9 135 250 (18.3%)
Geothermal 5.4 5.6 10 31 (2.3%)
Solar thermal
elect - - 2 43 (3.1%)
Ocean - - 1 5 (0.4%)
Total RES 504.3 537.2 704 1370
Total Gross
Electricity
Generation
EU-27 3320.4 3361.5
(Trends to
2030-baseline) 3568 4078
(Combined RES
and EE) 3391
Share of RES 15.20% 16.00% 19.70% 33.6-40.4%
European Renewable Energy Council: European Renewable Technology Roadmap
2008

http://www.ewea.org

ots Originaltext: European Wind Energy Association (EWEA)
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