EU’s Green Energy Plans Take Shape

New EU legislation aimed at having green energy account for 20 percent of the union’s overall energy consumption by 2020 is taking concrete shape, with draft proposals indicating that each EU state should contribute at least 5.75 percent to an overall target. Rich member states will carry a heavier burden, however.

EU energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs is expected to unveil the legislative piece on 12 January, with some governments scheduled to lobby for the best possible deal even as early as the beginning of next month.
The directive lays out in detail how exactly to get from the current 8.5 percent to a 20 percent share of renewables in EU energy consumption by the end of next decade – something that 27 EU leaders agreed to do at their summit in March.

According to the proposal, seen by EUobserver, member states will be asked to gradually reach the final EU-wide target.

Using 2005 as a baseline, the proposal says that member states should achieve over half (51 percent) of their remaining target by 2014, they should be at two-thirds (66 percent) of their remaining target by 2016 and at 83 percent by 2018, so that they reach the target in 2020 as planned.

One commission official told EUobserver that EU capitals will not be required to contribute to the same extent, however.

The executive body is set to take into account two criteria – a member state’s geographical potential to produce energy from sources such as wind, solar, geothermal or hydropower as well as its economic power based on GDP per capita.

BusinessWeek