BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 8. Cumulative renewable electricity capacity in Europe is expected to grow by nearly 60 percent, or 425 GW, from 2022 through 2027, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said, Trend reports via the latest Renewables 2022 publication from the Agency.
According to the Agency, this is more than twice as much as in the previous five-year period (2016-2021).
"Solar PV leads growth, followed by onshore wind, offshore wind, bioenergy and hydropower. Three-quarters of European expansion is concentrated in seven countries – Germany, Spain, the UK, Türkiye, France, the Netherlands and Poland. Europe’s main drivers for growth are long-term renewable energy targets and competitive auctions for utility-scale projects," the report said.
"This year’s main-case forecast has been revised upwards 30 percent to reflect policy changes made by governments over the last year to accelerate clean energy transitions and reduce reliance on Russian fossil fuels," the report noted.
At the EU level, the European Commission’s REPowerEU Strategy, published in May 2022, proposes to increase the share of renewable energy in final energy consumption to 45 percent by 2030, exceeding the 40 percent currently under negotiation. To achieve this by 2030, nearly 600 GW of PV3 and 510 GW of wind power will be required.
As the IEA explained, for distributed solar PV, feed-in tariffs or self-consumption with remuneration for excess generation promote uptake. The increasing attractiveness of projects developed outside of government-led auction schemes, through business models that employ corporate PPAs, revenues from the spot market, or a mixture of both, also boost growth.