BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 4. Two EU markets will see expanded renewable capacity growth, Thomas van Lanschot, Senior Power & Renewables Analyst, Fitch Solutions, told Trend.
“The power team expect the long-term prospects for expanded renewable capacity growth to increase with upside risks to our forecasts in the region and two EU markets in particular, Germany and Italy. However, these two markets have seen historic under performances in realising ambitious growth targets and we therefore highlight the need to address growth challenges in permitting, licencing and planning. In the near term we see the proposed acceleration of 20TWh of projects to quite ambitious for the year and would require substantial action from national and local governments to support a relaxation of legislation. Something that remains contentious in many markets but not impossible and we would highlight this task as problematic,” he said.
Thomas van Lanschot does not see the mass restart of shuttered nuclear plant to be a viable option for markets already seeking to phase out the sector.
“In Germany the lack of support from operators owing to the practical issues with re-establishing reactors, suitable supply chains and political opposition will see the sectors demise. However, we do see some scope for capacity to be extended in other markets which had not focused on a hard shut down or have more limited supply options such as Belgium. Furthermore, there are those which are already developing their nuclear programmes, such as Finland which has brought online its latest facility. However, we highlight that there are an extremely limited number of sites where this will be possible and the mass extension of plant life or the acceleration of development is not suitable for the sector. With regard to biomass facilities the sourcing of suitable biological material due to environmental issues and supply chain risks have hampered their widespread use and continue to do so,” the senior power and renewables analyst added.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn