The European Union is implementing the "Rooftop Solar Scheme" to install solar panels in new public and commercial buildings and homes in phases. Pictured here are solar panels installed on the roofs of residential homes in the Spanish city of Ronda.
Photo by Jon Nazca (Xinhua News Agency)
In recent years, the EU has introduced a series of policy measures to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy and promote the green energy transition. Ember, a European think tank in the energy sector, recently released a report saying that the proportion of renewable energy generation in the EU will reach 44% of total electricity generation in 2023, a record high. Wind and solar power account for 27% of total electricity generation. At the same time, fossil fuel power generation in the EU will fall by 19% year-on-year in 2023, less than one-third of the total electricity generation.
Continuously strengthen policy support
In recent years, the EU has introduced a series of policy measures to strengthen support for the clean energy transition to achieve the 2050 carbon neutrality goal. In May 2022, the EU issued the "European Joint Action Plan for Cheap, Safe and Sustainable Energy" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), proposing to increase the EU's energy efficiency target from 9% to 13% by 2030, provide an additional 210 billion euros by 2027 for breakthroughs in key clean energy technologies, and strive to increase the proportion of renewable energy in EU energy consumption to 45% by 2030.
Within the framework of the plan, the EU has developed the EU Solar Strategy, which proposes to double the installed solar PV capacity to more than 320 GW by 2025 compared to 2020 and close to 600 GW by 2030. At the same time, the "Rooftop Solar Program" will be implemented to install solar panels in new public and commercial buildings and residential buildings in phases. EU countries have also launched relevant measures to promote the growth of photovoltaic power generation. Last year, the Irish government announced the removal of VAT on the supply and installation of solar PV panels, with more than 60,000 households having rooftop solar systems installed.
Wind power is also a priority for renewable energy in the EU. In October last year, the European Commission launched the European Wind Action Plan, which proposes a series of support measures to promote the development of wind power, including increasing the digitalization of the permitting process, improving the design of tenders and financing assistance in the electricity market, and training talent on a large scale. Among them, accelerating the development of offshore wind power has become one of the priorities of the plan.
In April last year, the leaders and energy ministers of nine European countries met in Ostend, Belgium, and agreed on a new commitment to build offshore wind energy in the North Sea. The meeting adopted the Ostend Declaration, which aims to increase the installed capacity of offshore wind power in countries near the North Sea to 120 GW by 2030 and more than 300 GW by 2050. In 2023, Poland will invest in its first commercial offshore wind farm and officially start developing offshore wind power. One of the world's largest offshore wind farms, the 1.5 GW Kuster Zuyd offshore wind project in the Netherlands, was also officially put into operation last year.
In order to adapt to the growing generation of renewable energy, the European Commission also proposed an action plan for the construction of the power grid in November last year, which mainly aims to lay the foundation for accelerating the energy transition by accelerating the construction and updating of transmission and distribution networks to ensure that the EU electricity network operates more efficiently.
Photovoltaic and wind power production capacity reached new highs
In recent years, the deployment of renewable energy in the EU has shown a rapid growth trend. According to the "2023-2027 European Photovoltaic Market Outlook" report released by the European Photovoltaic Industry Association at the end of 2023, the new installed photovoltaic capacity in the EU will reach 55.9 GW in 2023, a record high, and the new installed capacity will increase by about 40% year-on-year. Among them, Germany will add the most new PV capacity in 2023, reaching 14.1 GW, followed by Spain and Italy with 8.2 GW and 4.8 GW respectively, and the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Romania also exceeded 1 GW for the first time last year. In 2023, nearly 17 million new households in the EU will use photovoltaic power generation.
According to data released by the European Wind Energy Association a few days ago, the new installed capacity of wind power in the EU will reach 16.2 GW in 2023, and the proportion of wind power generation in total power generation will exceed that of natural gas for the first time. Onshore wind accounted for 79% of the EU's new wind capacity, with offshore wind reaching its highest level on record. By country, Germany has the most new wind power capacity, while the Netherlands ranks second, but maintains a leading position in offshore wind. The European Wind Energy Association predicts that the EU will add 200 GW of wind power capacity from 2024 to 2030, with an average of about 29 GW per year.
In addition, the EU's hydropower sector has also recovered from the effects of dry weather in 2022, with hydropower production increasing by about 45 TWh in 2023 compared to the previous year.
According to the "2023 CO2 Emissions" report released by the International Energy Agency, the EU's total CO2 emissions in the energy sector in 2023 will be reduced by nearly 9%, half of which will be contributed by clean energy growth. From 2019 to 2023, the new wind power generation alone reduced the EU's annual CO2 emissions by nearly 5% in 2023, according to the agency.
Promote the development of the green hydrogen industry chain
Lhyfe, a European green hydrogen company, has announced that the company's green hydrogen plant in the port city of Blak in Lower Saxony, Germany, has officially started construction, which is the first commercial green hydrogen plant in northern Germany. The plant will produce 1,150 tonnes of green hydrogen per year, and the electricity needed to produce it will come from wind and photovoltaic power plants in Germany. Raphael Goldstein, a hydrogen energy expert at Trade & Invest Germany, said that hydrogen energy is one of the important pillars of Germany's energy transition, and the project is another milestone in the development of Germany's green hydrogen industry.
In 2020, the European Commission issued the EU Hydrogen Strategy, which regards green hydrogen as an important solution for the low-carbon transformation of transportation, transportation, chemicals, smelting and other industries, and deploys 840 related projects in all links of the entire industry chain. In 2022, the EU proposed in the Plan to produce 10 million tons of renewable hydrogen in the EU by 2030 and import 10 million tons of renewable hydrogen. To increase investment in the hydrogen market, the EU has also created the European Hydrogen Bank.
In February, the European Commission approved a new plan to support hydrogen infrastructure. Seven EU countries, including France, will provide 6.9 billion euros in public funding for the plan, which is expected to lead to more than 5.4 billion euros in private investment. Under the plan, 32 companies will be involved in 33 hydrogen-related projects, including the construction of large-scale electrolyzers for the production of renewable hydrogen, the construction and renovation of about 2,700 kilometers of hydrogen transmission and distribution pipelines, and the construction of large-scale hydrogen storage facilities. Stephen Jackson, Deputy CEO of Hydrogen Europe, said: "This is an important step on our way to establishing a mature, Europe-wide hydrogen infrastructure network. ”
Jogo Chazimakis, head of the European Hydrogen Organization, said that to effectively combat climate change, technologies must be adopted quickly, and hydrogen will play a key role in this. Hydrogen energy is of great significance to the EU's efforts to build a clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient energy system and achieve the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality. At the same time, the analysis believes that the current hydrogen energy technology is still immature and the cost is relatively high, and its research and development, promotion, transportation and storage technology still needs to be continuously improved, and it will take time before large-scale commercial application.
European Commission Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said the EU is working towards a 2030 emissions reduction target, while also setting a 2040 target. The EU has abundant clean energy, and it is also actively building cooperation with other regions and countries in the field of clean energy.