EU Exceeds Target for 20% Renewable Energy by 2020

January 5th, 2011 by Susan Kraemer

Finland, which already gets 30% of its energy from renewable sources, has a new 2020 target to make that 38%. Sweden, which already gets 42%, now has a target of 50% by 2020.

National Renewable Energy Action Plans published at Renewable Energy Focus show that averaged across the EU, 34% of EU electricity demand could be supplied from renewable sources by 2020, with 14% coming from wind alone. Overall, most of the member states are on target to either meet or exceed the original 20% by 2020 targets.

For the more advanced countries in the EU, that already get a higher percentage of renewable energy, higher targets for renewables are now being set. As each goal is being met earlier and easier, higher ones are being set in place.

The advanced nations there are like the US blue states here, in terms of energy policy, except they are years ahead of our blue states. Only Maine, which has already exceeded its goal of 30%, and is currently getting 40% from renewable energy, (and if you count hydro: 55%) is comparable with Sweden or Finland. Maine set its goal for 2000.

Europe signed Kyoto in 1997, and like Maine, began early. In the US, there has been no Federal policy, but starting during the Bush years, out of despair at the lack of climate change action, the blue states started passing state policy that required utilities to buy more renewable energy. The most ambitious of these are California which plans 33% by 2020 and Colorado which has just set a 30% goal.

As Maine’s example shows, the earlier you start, the sooner you get some real results. Starting from a mere handful of states in 2000, by 2009 30 states had passed an RES. What’s left is the red states, most of them oil and coal dependent, and five of which are more than 90% powered by coal.

But Europe has its own backward nations too, just as we have red states that send Senators to congress to prevent action on renewable energy. For example, nearly 100% oil-powered Malta is dragging its feet in meeting just 10% by 2020 and may not make it. According to the EU tally, Luxembourg is lagging its goal of just 11%. Former soviet satellite states the Czech Republic and Hungary are only being asked to try for 13% by 2020, and the former is struggling to meet it.

But some other former Soviet puppet states are doing surprisingly well. Latvia, which shares the Baltic Sea with Sweden and Finland, is on target to make 40%. Even Romania and Slovenia are on target to get 24% and 25%.

Image: Frogdog

Susan Kraemer@Twitter

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Tags: EU, renewable targets

About the Author

Susan Kraemer writes at CleanTechnica, CSP-Today, PV-Insider , SmartGridUpdate, and GreenProphet. She has also been published at Ecoseed, NRDC OnEarth, MatterNetwork, Celsius, EnergyNow, and Scientific American. As a former serial entrepreneur in product design, Susan brings an innovator's perspective on inventing a carbon-constrained civilization: If necessity is the mother of invention, solving climate change is the mother of all necessities! As a lover of history and sci-fi, she enjoys chronicling the strange future we are creating in these interesting times. Follow Susan on Twitter @dotcommodity.

Andrew Fynn

Good article. Though its better not to call any nation a puppet or former puppet state. It is at best disempowering, if not insulting.
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Jan

Hi, I am from Slovakia EU. The truth behind eastern EU post-communist countries’ CO2 reductions is that the soviet-style heavy industry went quickly bankrupt right after the regimes fall in 1989. The industries were heavy polluters. In couple of years all kinds of emissions went down huge percents. In the end of the 90s we already met the 20% goal I guess. So, it’s not so much a result of recent policies. Just the opposite, we are under cap and trade now. Our country exceeded the reductions (see above) and we got basically free credits from the EU hq. Our corrupted socialist government (previous term) did sell those credits half price to a garage based company in Michigan. Who then sold it to Japanese twice the price bribing back the socialists a huge amounts of money. Nobody was punished. Yet.
- http://cleantechnica.com/author/susan Susan Kraemer
  
  Fascinating info, thanks for the gory detail.
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Rif

@Susan Kraemer
Renewable Energy Focus is a bit vague about the 20% target in their article. If you go directly to the source EWEA, the statement is clear: EU will exceed renewable energy goal of 20 percent by 2020.

http://ewea.org/index.php?id=60&tx_ttnewstt_news=1892
- Rif
  
  Ups, the Cleantechnica comment system ate the square brackets, so the link is invalid.
  
  Oh well, on the EWEA front page click on article:
  2011-01-04 EU will exceed renewable energy goal of 20 percent by 2020
  
  http://ewea.org/
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Gregory Norminton

Alas, the Czechs are lagging behind due to politics (just like the US) rather than infrastructure difficulties. The Czech president, Vaclav Klaus, is a right-wing climate change denier, and the legislative body is now dominated by similar ideologues who recently eviscerated the (previously succesful) feed-in tariff for domestic solar. The point is that our transition to a low carbon economy is largely dependent on political will. Where it is lacking – and antiscientific ideology triumphs – our already slim chances diminish. In short, though we wish it were otherwise, climate change remains a political issue.
- http://cleantechnica.com/author/susan Susan Kraemer
  
  Thanks for the local insight, Gregory. My sympathies. Is there anything more frustrating?
Chris V

Washington state generates the most renewable energy in the country. According to the data below, that’s 43.9% of its power.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/states/sep_sum/plain_html/sum_btu_1.html
- http://cleantechnica.com/author/susan Susan Kraemer
  
  Good catch. you are right: because of lots of hydro too. I feel hydro should be counted as a renewable, at least for regions that will have plenty, even as the planet warms, and Washington State will, like the whole Northwest.
  - Rif
    
    @Susan Kraemer
    “I feel hydro should be counted as a renewable, at least for regions that will have plenty”
    
    Certainly hydro is renewable energy. Hydro is powerful but there is never enough water to run at full generating capacity all the time. Typically hydro power plants have capacity factor 20-60%. That means the greatest value of hydro power plants are to use them as operating reserve power plant, in the mix with solar and wind farms.
Chris V

Washington state already gets over 75% of its energy from hydro, which is a renewable energy source.