A European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) analysis shows that European Union (EU) member states are on course to achieve over 20% renewable energy by 2020, with 21 member states meeting or exceeding their national targets. The top 21 are made up of 13 member states that predict they will meet their target and eight that forecast they will exceed their target.
Only six members forecast that they will not manage to reach their target through domestic action alone, although two of these member states say that with fresh national initiatives, they can meet or exceed their targets. None of the six expects to be more than 1% below its target.
The top achiever is Spain, which believes it will reach 22.7% renewables by 2020 – almost 3% above its 20% target. Next comes Germany, which expects to be 0.7% above its 18% target. In addition, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Slovakia and Sweden expect to exceed their targets.
The six members states that do not expect to meet their targets are Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg and Malta, together with Bulgaria and Denmark – the two countries that state that with fresh national initiatives they could meet or exceed their targets.
Bottom of the league is Italy, which, in order to meet its target, foresees importing renewable energy from neighboring non-EU countries (Albania, Croatia, Serbia and Tunisia).
SOURCE: European Wind Energy Association
