L R AS Published on Sunday 28 November 2021 - n° 384 - Categories:Europe
SolarPower Europe raises its recommendations again, but it is becoming unreasonable
After having obtained in July 2021 from the European Commission a target of 40% of renewable energy in 2030, and then after much reflection, SolarPower Europe has changed its mind and now believes that the target is not sufficient to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55%.
and achieve climate neutrality by 2050. It now argues that the target should be increased to 45% by 2030, which would mean installing an additional 210 GW of solar capacity. It says the target of 660 GW installed by 2030 needs to be increased to 870 GW of solar energy in the EU
PV Tech of 22 November 2021
Editor's note In four months, Solar Power Europe has been thinking. It noticed that its previous calculations were wrong and that they needed to be changed urgently! Why had it not done them correctly before?
In its document, there is no practical analysis, nor any way to concretely achieve the 2030 target. It is as if it were enough to announce any target for it to be achieved, without knowing how it should be achieved. Unless this body hands over to the Commission, whose mandate will expire well before 2030, the task of announcing decisions that it will not be able to implement.
At the end of 2020, the EU had 137 GW of solar installed and is expected to have around 157 GW installed by the end of 2021. Member States' national plans foresee 335 GW (+ 145% in ten years) by 2030. Therefore, the 870 GW recommended represents 5.5 times the installations at the end of 2021, or an additional 97 GW per year compared to the 20 GW that should have been installed in 2021. This is five times the 2021 rate.
If we refer to Enel's calculations (84 GW for €70 billion, see Enel's fine ambition in RE), the 96 GW to be installed annually represent80 billion euros per year to which should be added the costs of developing the networks (i.e. €720 billion, an amount that is certainly very underestimated). Does SolarPower Europe intend to pay for this out of its own pocket? Or does it intend to make the community of 27 pay for them?
When will SolarPower Europe show some realism?
