By Cecilia Odey
The European Commission will on Tuesday present new measures to boost the European wind power industry to reach the European Union’s targets for renewable energy generation by 2030.
Long approval procedures, rising raw material costs, cheaper turbines from abroad and high inflation hamper the expansion of wind power capacity in the EU.
While wind energy generation grew by 10 per cent globally in the first six months of the year compared to the same period last year.
The increase in the EU was only five per cent, a report by think tank Ember found.
With the new, non-binding measures to be presented on Tuesday, the commission aimed to revert this trend and reached its climate goal of generating 42.5 per cent.
The climate goal of EU’s total energy consumption from renewable sources by 2030 is expected at a certain percentage.
To speed up the approval process, the commission plans an online tool, including answers to frequently asked questions, to support member states in authorising new wind farms.
Permitting procedures should in general be made more digital, the draft said.
The criteria for bidding procedures are to be updated to take additional factors into account other than costs, like sustainability and cybersecurity.
(dpa/NAN)
