Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical arm, has just released the most recent and comprehensive analysis available of the continent’s renewables use. In this edited extract, we drill down into the latest trends.
The share of energy from renewable sources in gross final energy consumption in the EU-27 reached 12.5% in 2010 and is showing steady progress towards the Europe 2020 target (20%).
Renewables going forward
The flagship initiative for a resource-efficient Europe under the Europe 2020 strategy supports the shift towards a resource-efficient, low-carbon economy to achieve sustainable growth. Increasing the share of energy from renewable sources is part of a decisive move towards a low-carbon economy. In the EU-27 the share of energy from renewable sources in gross final energy consumption increased from 8.1% in 2004 to 12.5% in 2010.
No Member State has so far reported any arrangements for the statistical transfer of a specified amount of energy from renewable sources nor has reported any joint projects relating to the production of electricity, heating or cooling from renewable energy sources. For reasons of consistency with previously published figures no account is taken of the aviation energy consumption cap in the figures presented here. If account is taken of the cap, the effect would be an increase of roughly 0.2 percentage points (the value for 2010 would be 12.7%).
The year 2010 marks the end of the first third of the time period running from the base year 2005 until 2020, for which the Directive has set the 20% target at EU level. At the same time, we can observe an increase from the base year value of 8.5% to 12.5% in 2010 – which is roughly one third of the gap between the base year share of renewables and the 20% target. Thus, at the aggregated EU level, progress towards the 2020 target is in line with the expected linear trajectory of progress towards the target.
Each Member State shall ensure that the share of energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy in 2020 is at least its national overall target for the share of energy from renewable sources in that year.
In Romania and Estonia, the actual share of energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy in 2010 was less than a percentage point from their targets; they were closely followed by Sweden. On the opposite end of the spectrum there are the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands and France, with a distance to their 2020 targets of more than 10 percentage points, closely followed by Malta, with just below 10% percentage points distance to target.
Gross inland energy consumption of renewable sources
The gross inland energy consumption of renewable sources continues to grow despite the financial and economic crisis of recent years. In 2010, the year-to-year growth was 13%, which is the highest-ever recorded growth for renewable energy sources since energy data for all EU-27 countries have been available (i.e. since 1990). It was even higher than the previous record growth, observed during a period of economic growth, between 2006 and 2007 (+9% on a year-to-year basis).
Wood and wood waste continues to be the largest contributor to the mix of renewable energy sources in gross inland energy consumption. While wood and wood waste energy doubled (+110%) between 1990 and 2010, its share in total renewable energy sources decreased from 56% to 49% as other renewable energy sources grew even faster. For the same reason, the share of hydro power decreased from 35% to 18%, although in absolute terms it increased by 28% between 1990 and 2010.
