Isra-Mart srl :Europe's renewable boom dampened by onshore wind slowdown

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Isra-Mart SRL news:

Europe's renewable energy capacity reached record levels last year, despite a slowdown in the development of onshore wind farms that has sparked concerns across the industry.

According to figures released today by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), the overall market for renewable power capacity, including wind, solar, hydro and biomass, increased 31 per cent during 2010, rising from 17.5 GW to 22.6GW. Overall, renewable energy accounted for 41 per cent of all new energy installations.However, while the total level of investment in new wind energy capacity remained flat at €13bn the amount of new onshore wind capacity added during 2010 was down 13.9 per cent on the 9.7GW installed during 2009.

The industry's offshore boom continued with the amount of new capacity from offshore win farms soaring 51 per cent to 883MW, but EWEA chief executive Christian Kjaer warned the slowdown in the construction of new onshore wind farms, particularly in Western Europe, was a cause for concern.

"These figures are a warning that we cannot take for granted the continued financing of renewable energy" said Christian Kjaer. "Better access to financing is urgently needed, and the European Union must act without delay to prevent Europe losing its leadership in wind power and other renewable technologies."

The new EWEA figures show that wind power installations still accounted for 17 per cent of new electricity generating capacity in 2010, but for the first year since 2007 the EU did not install more wind power than any other generating technology with 28GW of new gas power accounting for 51 per cent of new capacity.

In addition, the EU last year installed more coal power capacity than it decommissioned, representing only the second time since 1998 that net coal-fired power capacity has increased.

The European Commission today released a statement detailing how it plans to improve access to finance for renewable energy projects, but Kjaer warned that it would have to act swiftly to put its plan into action if it is to avoid a continued slowdown across the wind energy sector.

The statement calls on member states to better align their subsidies for renewable energy projects and double overall investment in the sector to €70bn a year.

"If member states work together and produce renewable energy where it costs less, companies, consumers and the taxpayer will benefit from this," EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said in a statement.

According to the Commission unifying the huge variety of subsidies and incentive schemes offered across the bloc would deliver overall savings of around €10bn a year.

"While different financial instruments are used in all member states to develop renewable energy - grants, loans, feed-in tariffs, certificate regimes etc. - their management needs to be improved," the Commission statement read. "Investors need greater coherence, clarity and certainty."

The statement comes ahead of a crucial meeting in Brussels on Friday where energy and environment ministers are expected to discuss how to meet the EU target of generating 20 per cent of energy from renewables by 2020.