The wind industry has today launched a call to action outlining three steps to boost Europe’s energy independence and competitiveness.
The Copenhagen Call to Action was launched at the opening session of WindEurope’s annual event, which brings over 15,000 people together for a conference and exhibition.
Amid unprecedented economic insecurity, the EU’s new Clean Industrial Deal puts electrification and the accelerated build-out of renewables at the heart of Europe’s industrial strategy.
The Copenhagen Call to Action urges governments to take three steps – the first of which is to apply the new EU permitting rules, ensuring more projects can be pushed through quickly.
The second step is to remove barriers to electrification by providing state aid to electrify with renewable power purchase agreements.
The final call to action is to de-risk wind investments with a stable pipeline of two-sided Contract for Difference auctions.
These improve costs of capital and visibility on revenues and are good value for governments, the industry said.
Wind is 20% of the electricity Europe consumes today but the EU wants it to be 35% by 2030 and over half by 2050.
WindEurope said that as a local source of energy, wind strengthens energy security and removes the price volatility of imported fossil fuels.
The European wind energy supply chain is currently investing over €11bn in new factories to meet the Clean Industrial Deal goals.
However, Europe isn’t building enough new wind farms to support its competitiveness and energy security objectives.
WindEurope said the main reasons for this are poor permitting, slow grid build-out, bad auction design and insufficient electrification.
WindEurope chairman Henrik Andersen said: “Europe is in a moment of transition. To secure European influence in the global economy, we need more secure, affordable and sustainable energy.
“Wind energy is already driving industrial growth and energy independence across Europe, we just need to scale up.
“This calls for increasing viable demand for wind energy, and strengthening wind’s market environment.
“WindEurope Copenhagen will be a critical opportunity for European governments and industry to agree on how we can achieve this, together.”
The Copenhagen Call to Action can be read here.