Test - E.U.

Investment in Fossil Fuel & Renewables in South East Europe

The European Investment Bank (EIB), and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), invest more in fossil fuels than they do in renewable energy.

According to EIB officials, between 2007 and 2011 their bank invested €15 billion in fossil fuel projects compared to €14.8 billion in renewables.

According to the new South East Europe Change Network (SEECN) report, (which covers Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia), between 2006 and 2012, 32 times more of the €1.68 billion invested by development banks in the Western Balkans’ energy infrastructure went to fossil fuels than to non-hydropower-based renewables.

The SEECN report found that fossil fuels accounted for 36 percent of all bank loans in the region and almost half of the lending from the biggest regional lender, the EBRD. Half of the EBRD’s annual €6.7 billion of energy lending goes to fossil fuels.

The report found that only 17 percent of bank lending to the Western Balkans currently goes to energy efficiency projects.

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EWEA's Offshore Wind Statistics for 2011

On January 31, 2012 the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) published its annual offshore wind statistics for 2011. According to these 2011 statistics there were 235 new turbines with a power capacity of 866 Megawatts (MW) on nine offshore wind farms. These new fully grid connected wind installations are worth approximately 2.4 billion Euros.

With the exception of a minor decline in 2011, there has been a consistent year over year increase in installed wind capacity in Europe. Annual installed new offshore wind turbine capacity (fully grid connected) were 327 MW in 2008, 584 MW in 2009, 883 MW in 2010 and 866 MW in 2011.

Describing the 2011 results as "stable," Justin Wilkes, the Policy Director of EWEA, said “Despite the economy-wide financial squeeze, 2011 saw a 40 per cent increase on the previous year in offshore non-recourse debt financing , up from 1.46 billion Euros in 2010 to 2.05 billion Euros in 2011.”

Nine offshore wind farms currently under construction will bring online an additional 2375 MW – increasing the EU’s total installed offshore wind power capacity by 62%.

Across the EU, a total of 1371 offshore turbines have now been grid connected, with a total power capacity of 3813 Megawatts in 53 wind farms in 10 European countries.

EWEA’s target for installed EU offshore wind power capacity by 2020 is 40,000 MW, producing approximately 4% of the EU’s total electricity consumption.

The majority (87%) of all newly installed and grid connected offshore wind power in 2011 was in British waters. Siemens supplied 80% of the MW installed offshore last year while SSE and RWE Innogy were the most active developers and DONG Energy continued to be the most active equity player in offshore wind power.

© 2012, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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