On 11th March, each Member State has submitted to the European Commission a report in which it estimated the potential share of renewable energy in its final energy consumption by 2020.

According to the Summary Report, at least ten Member States expect to have a surplus in 2020 compared to their binding target while five Member States expect to have a deficit. In particular, Italy, with a deficit in absolute terms of 1.2 Mtoe, will have the biggest shortage of domestically produced renewable energies. However, this results are preliminary. It will be possible to have more details by the end of June 2010 when States submit their the National Renewable Energy Action Plans.

In their reports some States also defined sectors in which they estimated to reach the highest share of renewable. For instance, in Portugal and Sweden will focus on electricity while Ireland on the transport sector.

In addition, Member States which consider that they cannot reach their targets only with domestic resources, must either acquire transfers from other Member States or countries outside the EU. In particular, through “statistical transfers” they agree to exchange statistically a given quantity renewable energy produced. While, through “joint project” a specific new plant is identified and the output of the plant shared statistically between Member States.

Some Member States have already identified technologies where cooperation mechanisms might be used. These include offshore wind (Germany, Estonia and Ireland), hydro (Romania and Bulgaria) and biomass (Latvia). Finally, joint projects regarding electricity production could be established with third countries if a number of conditions are met. In this regard, France, Greece, Italy, and Spain define specifically that they may use cooperation mechanisms to develop renewable energy in third countries.

International Climate Policy and Carbon Markets

This news is extracted from International Climate Policy and Carbon Markets, a bi-monthly report aiming to provide a clear analysis of the worldwide evolution of the carbon market, and of the international and domestic climate policies. Download the last issue, N. 7 March 2010 [335 Kb].