Europe on track to meet RE targets

European Renewable Energy Targets

Europe is home to some of the world leaders in energy efficiency and renewable energy generation. The Scandinavian nations are quietly getting on with meeting their targets with electric car roll out plans and onshore wind power, Germany is shining brightly in the solar market and the UK is pumping a lot of money into offshore wind.

As a result, the European Union is fully expected to surpass its target to consume 20 percent of its energy from renewable energy sources by the year 2020, that's according to individual forecasts released by all 27 EU member states.

Renewable Energy Focus reports that the Commission, in its summary of national forecasts, says the EU will reach an overall share of 20.3 percent from renewable sources. Ten of the 27 member states are likely to exceed their targets for renewable energy, with another 12 countries to meet their goals domestically.

However five member states, including Italy, are expected to miss their targets.

Spain and Germany forecast the largest surpluses in 2020, predicting they will exceed their national renewable targets by 2.7 and 0.7 percentage points respectively.

"Enhance our energy security"

Speaking of the EU's strong performance, Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger said: "These forecasts show that member states take renewable energy very seriously and are really dedicated to push their domestic production. It is an important milestone in the achievement of the goals set in the Europe 2020 Strategy.

"This is a very positive sign for the environment, as it will help us to cut CO2 emissions and at the same time enhance our energy security," he adds. "It is also a very positive message for our economy and our companies."

Under the the Renewable Energy Directive approved last year, those states not expected to meet targets through domestic means alone are required to acquire transfers from other countries within or outside of the EU. This is not expected to impact the EU's overall target because only two Mtoe (million tons of oil equivalent) of the total renewable energy needed in 2020 will be traded in this manner, which represents less than one percent of targets.

Under the agreement renewable energies include wind, solar, biofuels, biomass and hydro power.

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Daniel Jones

Daniel is a Politics and Philosophy graduate from Cardiff University where he also worked as a section editor on the award winning student newspaper. After university he joined an IT support company where he was a B2B online writer. He loves anything to do with sport and joined GDS in July 2009.

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