The EU wind energy target for 2030 is within reach. This is evident from the European annual figures for wind energy in 2023 that WindEurope recently published. This is mainly due to improvements in licensing and an upturn in investments. However, obstacles remain. The biggest threat to the accelerated expansion of wind energy is the timely expansion of Europe's onshore and offshore electricity grids.
Numbers
The European Union has installed a record 16.2 GW of new wind energy capacity in 2023. 79% of this was onshore wind. And more than 1 GW came from repowering old turbines.
The share of wind in total electricity consumption in the EU was 19% in 2023. Another 8% came from solar energy. Renewable energy sources made up a total of 42% of the electricity mix.
Germany installed the most new capacity, followed by the Netherlands and Sweden. Denmark had the largest share of wind in its electricity mix at 56%. Seven other countries got more than a quarter of their electricity from wind, with Germany getting 31%. Total electricity generation from wind in the EU amounted to 466 TWh, up from 412 TWh in 2022.
Predictions
WindEurope predicts that the EU will install an average of 29 GW per year in 2024-30. This will bring the EU's installed wind capacity to 393 GW in 2030, compared to the 425 GW needed to meet European climate and energy targets.
In the period 2024-2030, two-thirds of the new installations will remain on land. But the amount of offshore wind installations will increase rapidly by the end of the decade. In 2030, the number of new installations at sea will almost equal the number of new installations on land.
More permits, higher investments
Europe approved significantly more permits for new onshore wind farms in 2023 than in previous years. This is mainly due to new EU rules for allowing renewable energy sources. Germany and Spain have allowed 70% more onshore wind than they saw in 2022. There were also more permits in France, Greece, Belgium and the United Kingdom.
Investments in new wind energy capacity were also higher than in 2022. A reduction in inflationary pressure, better tariff indexation by governments and greater certainty in the electricity markets created a more favorable investment climate. New investments in offshore wind alone amounted to 30 billion euros – a big difference from the 0.4 billion euros invested in 2022.
Measures
2023 also saw a major political turnaround for the EU's wind energy package, which was subsequently endorsed by 26 governments in the European Wind Charter.
Crucially, the political view on wind energy in Europe will have changed by 2023. The EU and national governments recognized that the European wind industry was struggling and needed urgent support. The European Commission's Wind Energy Package in October included 15 actions to strengthen the industry. In December, 26 EU Member States and 300 companies signed the European Wind Charter , committing themselves to take the necessary measures.
In concrete terms, this concerns improving the design of the auctions:
- Full indexation of prices so that income reflects costs;
- Tightening prequalification criteria to raise the bar for the type of turbines that can be built in Europe;
- Clearer insight into volume auction schedules so the industry can plan better.
The package also requires the European Commission to support the wind industry through the Innovation Fund and the European Investment Bank, to provide counter-guarantees to support equipment sales.
The recently agreed EU Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA) now enshrines in law the need to tighten prequalification criteria and sets an ambitious target of 36 GW per year for wind turbine production in Europe.
Goal in sight
Now that governments have committed to strengthening Europe's wind energy industry with the Wind Energy Package and Charter, investment has increased and the European wind energy supply chain is returning to profits and building new factories needed to meet EU targets , the way seems clear to come close to the EU target for 2030, namely that wind will account for 35% of electricity, compared to 19% now. The condition is that Europe accelerates the construction of networks to connect all new wind farms.
Grids: the next big bottleneck
To increase annual wind installations from 16 GW last year to an average of 29 GW per year until 2030, Europe must urgently accelerate the development of new and optimized electricity grids. Hundreds of GWs of new wind farms are currently waiting for their grid connection. Queues for connection to the grid delay the timely connection of new wind farms.
In Germany, authorities recently announced that up to 6 GW of offshore wind capacity will be affected by grid connection delays. The affected wind farms are now coming online with a delay of up to two years.
Sailing from the EU
The EU appears to be addressing the problem with its action plan on networks. The implementation of this plan must be and remain a top priority for the current and future European Commission – and for all national governments. Not only to expand the network, but also to invest more in ports and other transport infrastructure.
Read the full report here .
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