Europe’s wind power targets ‘back on track’

Europe’s wind power installations would need to produce 37 gigawatts annually to keep the EU on track towards its 2030 renewables goal. Build-out rates are far lower than what’s needed, coming in at 17 GW total for 2023. Can the industry catch up?

Historically, the industry has blamed long lead times on permits, as well as legal challenges from environmentalists and NIMBYs for its lag. But gathered in Bilbao for their annual jamboree, the traditional despondence was replaced by a new sense of cheer.

“Things are back on track,” announced Giles Dickson, CEO of industry association WindEurope with some 500 members across the entire value chain, on Thursday (21 March). 

Amid a 70% uptick in permits awarded in the industry’s biggest market, Germany, and Danish manufacturing giant Vestas returning to profitability, the industry is confident now.

“Yes we can,” said Dickson when asked whether the industry could deliver on the EU’s targets.

What industry representatives described in 2023 as a “perfect storm” of high commodity prices, high-interest rates and instability following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine appears to have subsided.

Instead, investments are being made in new offshore facilities. Vestas are building two factories in the Polish town of Szczecin, and one in Gdańsk. Another three foundation factories are opening in Europe, Dickson adds. 

Two massive factories are underway to supply converter stations – ancillary structures that gather power and transform it before sending it on to shore. One in the UK’s Cardiff, and another in Rostock, Germany. “This is reshoring to Europe of manufacturing that used to happen in Singapore, the Gulf and the Far East,” he adds.

Onshore wind has “spare capacity” because of recent drops caused by permitting bottlenecks, but those factories are being modernised “so the supply chain can deliver,” says the trade association head.

New rules, new optimism

The wind industry credits the EU and its response to the energy crisis for its newfound optimism.

“Three months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the EU adopted its REPowerEU energy strategy. And the key headline within that strategy was a big push on the simplification of permitting rules and procedures,” he explained. 

Using emergency powers, EU countries adopted emergency permitting rules in late 2022, which entered into force in 2023. Now, the industry is feeling their effects – the special rules have since been integrated into the EU’s regular renewables framework.

“Things are improving significantly. And the EU has played a key role here, bringing in new legally binding rules which all national governments have to implement to simplify permitting,” says Dickson, alluding to new rules like a two-year cap on permitting assessment.

These wins have given room for optimism. A report by RystadEnergy commissioned for the Bilbao jamboree found that the wind power industry had got its way 80% of the time in the Brussels lawmaking process in recent years.

Germany, the renewables champion

Aside from quicker permits, Germany brought another national idea to the rest of Europe: the concept of “overriding public interest” applying to renewables – which was enshrined in the emergency rules as well. Much to the delight of the industry.

“The expansion of wind and solar now has to be treated by public authorities and courts and judges as a matter of overriding public interest … We are winning court cases in Germany that we used to lose,” Dickson adds.

Germany has “driven the European debate on all of this. They’ve been the first country to introduce these reforms.”

Grids, not permits

Instead of the perennial permitting issues plaguing the industry, another issue is rearing its head: Europe’s grid gap of almost €600 billion in investments needed until 2030.

“We will not deliver the significant increase in annual installation rates that we foresee, going up from 16 GW to 29 GW a year, if we fail on the build-up of the grids,” the industry association CEO stressed.

To that end, he calls for “anticipatory investments” to pre-empt future wind parks instead of relegating them to a connection queue – adding to growing calls in Brussels by the consumer-grid association Eurelectric and echoing similar sentiments in Berlin.

[By Nikolaus J. Kurmayer I Edited by Brian Maguire | Euractiv’s Advocacy Lab ]

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