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EWEA Press Release

Thursday 31st March 2005

Wind sector: R&D essential to create platform for growth for Europe

Brussels, 31st March 2005 --- The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) - today called for an increase in wind energy R&D spending under the EU's 7th Framework Programme for research and development (FP7), and the establishment of a Wind Energy Technology Platform in order to continue its track record of cost reductions and maintain European technology leadership in wind energy⁽¹⁾.

"European research efforts should be focused on those technologies where Europe is strong. R&D is a crucial factor in reaching full cost competitiveness with other power sources, and goes hand-in-hand with reaping further economies of scale through increased market volumes," said Corin Millais CEO of EWEA. "Europe is in pole position with wind energy technology, but there is a risk that we may fall behind unless significant support to long-term and short-term R&D is included in the forthcoming European research programme FP7."

The cost of generating wind power has decreased by some 80% since the first modern wind turbines were installed in the beginning of the 1980s. The sector estimates that some 40% of the cost reductions achieved over the past two decades can be contributed to improved technology through R&D. Scale economies in production, a function of market volume, has been the other large contributor.

At present, the European wind industry leads the world with an 83% world market share⁽²⁾. Long-term commitment from EU and national R&D programmes, combined with close cooperation between industry and research institutions, has been a principal contributor to Europe's dominant position in wind turbine technology and the wind power industry R&D in general. However, European leadership in wind energy is challenged by foreign competitors getting increasingly aware of the substantial growth potential of the sector.

Support for wind energy R&D under the current EU framework programme, FP6, was severely restricted, and funding for long-term research was initially completely removed ⁽³⁾.

"We are witnessing a paradigm shift in wind energy research. From having been a 'knowledge borrower' in the early years of development, the sector is increasingly becoming a provider of basic research knowledge to other sectors in the economy. Developing offshore wind technology alone will require substantial knowledge generation for many years to come; both in the form of long term basic research and short term research applying the knowledge in today's energy systems", said Millais.

The European wind energy sector calls on the European Commission to facilitate the establishment of a wind energy technology platform. Such a platform would ensure an efficient use of the funds applied by facilitating collaboration between the wind energy sector, other stakeholders, the European institutions and Member States.

"The wind sector is a growing success story, but we have only seen the tip of the iceberg. Europe is in the lead and we should make sure that we stay ahead of the pack. A wind energy technology platform would be a central tool to secure this," said Millais.

Political support for a Wind Energy Platform has been expressed by the Energy Council, the Informal Competitiveness Council and in the Member States' Egmond Declaration from last year's EU Policy Workshop on Development of Offshore Wind Energy ⁽⁴⁾.

In December 2004, EU Energy Commissioner Piebalgs stated that 1 "The Commission is concerned by the decreasing trend of the RTD spending in the field of renewable energy sources these last twenty years both 1 ( written question: E-2459/04) (16 December 2004) at the national and European levels. If this trend is not reversed by a substantial increase of funding in the future, it could hamper the progress of renewable energies in the EU energy mix".

"Wind energy can contribute significantly to all the goals set out in Lisbon: sustainable economic growth, high quality jobs, technology development, global competitiveness, and European industrial and research leadership", said Corin Millais.

Specifically, the European wind sector calls for:

• The establishment of a Wind Energy Technology Platform (5) that would address both research and development as well as policy issues related to market development, such as overcoming grid barriers and administrative barriers in order to reap further economies of scale and bring down costs. The industry requests the assistance of the European Commission as facilitator in this process.
• Following dramatically reduced funding for wind energy R&D under FP6, EWEA calls for wind energy to be reinstated as a priority research area under FP7 within a new "Renewable Energy Systems" budget line, replacing the existing "Sustainable Energy Systems" chapter, which includes so-called "clean coal technologies and hydrogen and absorb large parts of the renewable energy R&D funding.
• To increase transparency, the technologies included in a new "Renewable Energy Systems" budget line should follow the definition of renewables as stated in the Renewables Directive. Within this reformed chapter, in order to ensure that adequate funding is dedicated to European wind energy R&D, EWEA calls for the establishment of a separate Chapter for Wind Energy.

NOTES

• An editorial and a detailed article on wind energy and FP7 are available at www.ewea.org
• The International Energy Agency (IEA) states that, although costs have already fallen dramatically, if wind energy is going to supply 10% of the world's electricity needs by 2020, cost reductions of 30 to 50% are still necessary. R&D work could contribute up to 40% of those cost reductions. Continued R&D efforts are therefore of paramount importance for further reduction of wind power costs and for achieving cost competitiveness with the cheapest conventional power sources.
• Source: "World Market Update 2004", BTM Consult, March 2005.
• Funding for long-term R&D in wind energy under FP6 (2003 - 2006) has been extremely limited. However in its December 2004 call for proposals, the European Commission decided to reinstate long term research in wind power. One "Integrated Project" has been applied for by the wind sector but is still to be confirmed. If approved, long term funding in the range of €10-15 million would be included in FP6. This represents the sum total of long term wind energy R&D for the period. The total budget for long-term research in "Sustainable Energy Systems" is €405 million.
• The November 2004 Energy Council conclusions stated that the findings of the EU Policy Workshop on Development of Offshore Wind Energy, in Egmond, in the Netherlands, are worth noting: "Participants emphasise the need for setting up of a Wind Energy technology platform within the framework of FP7, as proposed by the Informal Competitiveness Council (Maastricht, July 2004)".
  At the July 2004 Informal Competitiveness Council, the Council Chairman, Dutch minister Laurens Brinkhorst stated: "We want a limited number of platforms for precisely those areas in which Europe is successful, such as nanotechnology and wind power."
• The Wind Energy Technology Platform core aims are:
  • Close cooperation among the wind energy sector, EU institutions, national governments, wider energy stakeholders, the public, the financial community and R&D institutions
  • Ensure continued cost reductions and increased competitiveness through R&D and market development
  • To ensure sufficient funding for wind energy R&D under FP7
  • To prioritise short and long term R&D
  • Strong coordination with the European Commission
  • Strong coordination with member states