Almost
90% of new energy in Europe from renewable sources in 2016
Wind
energy overtakes coal as the EU’s second largest form of power
capacity but concerns remain over politicians’ enthusiasm for
renewables
Thursday 9 February
2017 05.00 GMT
Renewable energy
made up nearly nine-tenths of new power added to Europe’s
electricity grids last year, in a sign of the continent’s rapid
shift away from fossil fuels.
But industry leaders
said they were worried about the lack of political support beyond
2020, when binding EU renewable energy targets end.
Of the 24.5GW of new
capacity built across the EU in 2016, 21.1GW – or 86% – was from
wind, solar, biomass and hydro – eclipsing the previous high-water
mark of 79% in 2014.
For the first time
windfarms accounted for more than half of the capacity installed, the
data from trade body WindEurope showed. Wind power overtook coal to
become the EU’s second largest form of power capacity after gas,
though due to the technology’s intermittent nature, coal still
meets more of the bloc’s electricity demand.
Germany installed
the most new wind capacity in 2016, while France, the Netherlands,
Finland, Ireland and Lithuania all set new records for windfarm
installations.
The total capacity
added was 3% down on 2015 but a surge in offshore windfarms – which
are twice as expensive as those built on land – being connected in
Britain saw total, Europe-wide investment hit a record €27.5bn
(£23bn).
The biggest project
was the Gemini windfarm off the Netherlands’ coast, which was
connected to the grid last February and will be the world’s second
largest offshore windfarm when finished this year. Gemini was
followed in size by two other offshore windfarms, Germany’s 582MW
Gode Wind 1 and 2, and the Netherlands’ 144MW Westermeerwind
project.
“The installation
numbers for now look OK, and the investment number is very good,”
said Giles Dickson, chief executive of WindEurope. “But on the
longer term outlook, only seven out of the EU’s 28 countries have
clear policies and volumes [for wind power] in place for the period
beyond 2020.
“We today see less
political and policy ambition for renewables than we did five or even
three years ago, across the member states.”
Despite Europe’s
installed wind power capacity now standing at 153.7GW, it is still a
relatively small fraction of the region’s 918.8GW of total power
capacity. The industry is hoping much of its growth will come from
filling the gap as governments force old coal power plants to close
to meet climate change goals, as the UK has committed to doing by
2025.
“The EU is not
putting much pressure on countries to close down old coal power
plants,” said Dickson.
WindEurope’s new
report, 2016 European Statistics, paints a picture of a Europe
increasingly divided on wind power.
Spain, Portugal,
Italy and Greece, which together drove much of the growth in new
windfarms in the noughties, now amount to a tiny fraction of new
installations. Poland last year passed a law limiting how close wind
turbines can be to buildings, effectively stalling the industry
there.
The result is an
increasingly small number of countries connecting serious amounts of
new wind power. Germany, which already has three times as much wind
power as any other EU country, installed 44% of Europe’s new wind
capacity last year.
Dickson said the
wind power industry will be lobbying Europe’s capitals for more
support in their national energy and climate plans, which member
states, including the UK, have to submit to the European commission
in draft form by the year’s end.
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