Europe's 2030 renewable energy target: a wind power challenge

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🗞️ Driving the news: Wind energy accounted for 17% of Europe's total electricity consumption in 2022, with Denmark, Germany, and the UK leading the transition. Denmark had the highest contribution to energy consumption from wind power (55%), followed by Ireland (34%), the UK (28%), and Germany (26%)
• Paweł Czyżak, Senior Energy and Climate Data Analyst at Ember, stated that wind power is "the most important technology for Europe's decarbonization"

🌎 Why it matters for the planet: With pressure on governments and energy corporations to transition from oil and gas to clean energy, wind power could play a significant role. However, there are challenges to overcome, such as stable laws, clear targets, and permitting processes for wind energy
• Italy, for example, struggles due to a permitting process that often leads to canceled projects, creating an uncertain environment for developers

🔭 The context: Despite the growth in wind power, the EU is expected to miss its 2030 renewable energy target. To meet this target, countries would need to deploy over 30 GW of wind power every year until 2030.
• However, in 2022, only 16 GW came online, and the outlook for 2023 does not look more promising

⏭️ What’s next: The development of floating wind technology, which opens up new, deeper waters, could boost wind power in countries like Portugal, Spain, and Greece. There is also a need for countries such as Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Bulgaria to step up their game and deploy large amounts of offshore wind

The full-length article was published in Euronews