Eight top European companies have urged the European Union to come out with a strong 2030 climate and energy framework, including an ambitious and legally binding target for the share of renewable energy in the energy mix of more than 30 per cent.
Collectively the group, comprising Acciona, Alstom, Dong Energy, EnBW, ERG, Gamesa, RES and Vestas, represents 176,000 jobs and over €250 billion in annual turnover, providing clean energy to more than 70 countries.
The group says Europe must remain on the path it has chosen as “2030 is already at our doorstep”.
It says the energy sector has long investment cycles, and the investment decisions in the EU’s liberalised energy markets need as much policy certainty as possible.
The group says this must be based on “mutually reinforcing tools and targets, including an ambitious and legally binding target for the share of renewable energy in the energy mix of more than 30 per cent”.
It stresses that the energy sector “has long investment cycles and investment decisions in the EU’s liberalised energy markets need as much policy certainty as possible”.
A standalone, stable and predictable 2030 framework with an ambitious and binding renewables target alongside an ambitious and binding greenhouse gas reduction target plus a robust CO2 price is key to minimising costs, the group said.
The companies added that continued deployment of renewables will improve the EU’s security of energy supply and a legally binding renewables target will reduce EU exposure to volatile fossil fuel prices.
A binding 2030 target will also allow “long-term cost reductions in renewable energy technologies to continue by enabling industrialisation and economies of scale”.
Establishing a fair market was flagged up as another crucial development, with the group pointing out that after 2020 “an increasing number of maturing renewable energy technologies will be able to gradually move away from support mechanisms”.
The companies said in a joint statement: “Subsidies should be removed from conventional energy technologies and energy pricing mechanisms must be based on energy market dynamics only.
“This way we will achieve a fair and competitive market that is open to all energy technologies equally, restoring healthy price signals and enabling the full benefits of real competition.
“To ensure this the Emissions Trading System must be reviewed so that externalities are factored into the market price, allowing competition to be based on the real costs of all technologies.”
The group further stressed that a coherent 2030 framework “will be conducive to investments in both renewable capacity and the other elements of the energy system needed to support the integration of renewables alongside conventional sources of generation”.
It concluded that the mooted changes, however, would not be possible without “a true European market”.
The calls for greater policy certainty at an EU level came as DONG Energy, Drax, and E.ON all warned that escalating political rows over energy policy in the United Kingdom was scaring off investors.
