The European Commission is today presenting a European Wind Power Action Plan to ensure that the clean energy transition goes hand-in-hand with industrial competitiveness.
Achieving the EU target of at least 42.5% renewable energy by 2030, with an ambition to reach 45% renewables, will require a massive increase in wind installed capacity with an expected growth from to more than 500GW in 2030.
While the wind power sector is a historical EU success story, its future growth path is faced with a unique set of challenges including insufficient and uncertain demand, slow and complex permitting, lack of access to raw materials, high inflation and commodity prices, unsupportive design of national tenders, increased pressure from international competitors and risks on availability of a skilled workforce.
The Action Plan will help to maintain a healthy and competitive wind energy supply chain, with a clear and secure pipeline of projects, attracting the necessary financing and competing on a level playing field globally.
It is accompanied by a Communication on delivering on the EU’s offshore energy ambition, including wind power, following up on the EU Offshore Renewable Energy Strategy adopted three years ago.
The Action Plan sets out immediate actions to be taken together by the Commission, the Member States and the industry; building on existing policies and legislation and focusing on six main areas.
Acceleration of deployment through increased predictability and faster permitting.
The Commission is launching the “Accele-RES” initiative with Member States to ensure swift implementation of the revised EU renewable energy rules, putting more focus on the digitalisation of permitting processes and technical assistance to Member States.
In addition, Member States are encouraged to enhance the visibility of the project pipeline through wind pledges, transparent auction schedules, and long-term planning.
Finally, the Commission will support the necessary build-out of electricity grids with a Grids Action Plan later this year.
Building on the proposed Net-Zero Industry Act and the reform of the Electricity Market Design, the Commission will support Member States in improving auctions with well-designed and objective criteria which reward higher value-added equipment and ensure that projects are realised fully and on time.
Beyond the EU, Global Gateway projects will increase their use of strategic procurement standards.
The Action Plan also foresees a cybersecurity risk assessment.
To speed up investment and financing for wind energy manufacturing in Europe, the Commission will facilitate access to EU financing, notably through the Innovation Fund, while the European Investment Bank (EIB) will make de-risking guarantees available.
The Commission also encourages Member States to make full use of the flexibility provided by the amended Temporary State aid Crisis and Transition Framework to support wind manufacturing in the EU.
To ensure that the wind sector can operate on a level playing field, the Commission closely monitors possible unfair trade practices which benefit foreign wind manufacturers and will continue to use trade agreements to facilitate access to foreign markets, while promoting the adoption of EU and international standards for the sector.
The Commission will also engage with investors to identify and address obstacles to investment.
With the Net-Zero Industry Act, the Commission will also facilitate the launch of European net-zero industry skills academies – including one dedicated to the wind sector, designed to support Member States actions to upskill and reskill workers.