THE STATE OF RENEWABLE ENERGIES IN EUROPE EDITION 2019 19th EurObserv’ER Report This barometer was prepared by the EurObserv’ER consortium, which groups together Observ’ER (FR), TNO Energy Transition (NL), RENAC (DE), Frankfurt School of Finance and Management (DE), Fraunhofer ISI (DE) and Statistics Netherlands (NL). THE STATE OF RENEWABLE ENERGIES IN EUROPE Funded by the EDITION 2019 19th EurObserv’ER Report This document has been prepared for the European Commission however it reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. 2 3 EDITORIAL by Vincent Jacques le Seigneur 4 Investment Indicators 157 Indicators on innovation International Trade 252 and competitiveness 213 All RES 254 Investment in Renewable Wind Energy 256 Energy indicators 6 Energy Capacity 159 Photovoltaics 258 R&D Investments 214 Biofuels 260 Wind power 160 Wind power 8 • Public R&D Investments Hydropower 262 Photovoltaic 164 Wind Energy 216 Photovoltaic 14 • Conclusion 264 Biogas 168 Solar Energy 217 Solar thermal 20 Renewable municipal waste 170 Hydropower 26 Hydropower 218 Geothermal energy 172 Geothermal energy 219 Indicators on the flexibility Geothermal energy 30 Solid biomass 174 Biofuels 220 of the electricity system 267 Heat pumps 36 International comparison Biogas 42 Ocean energy 221 of investment costs 178 Biofuels 50 Renewable Energy Renewable municipal waste 56 Public finance programmes Technologies in Total 222 Solid biomass 62 for RES investments 182 • Private R&D Investments Sources & references 278 Concentrated solar power 70 Investment in Renewable Wind Energy 224 Ocean energy 76 Energy Technology 186 Solar Energy 225 Hydropower 226 Integration of RES in the building Venture capital – private equity 188 Geothermal energy 227 stock and urban infrastructure 88 Performance of RES technology Biofuels 228 • Conclusion 96 firms and RES assets 190 Ocean energy 229 On the whole 194 Renewable Energy Technologies in Total 230 Socio-economic indicators 108 • Conclusions 232 Renewable energy costs, reference Patent Fillings 234 Wind power 110 prices and cost competitiveness 196 Wind Energy 236 Photovoltaic 114 Solar Energy 238 Solar thermal 118 Hydropower 240 Hydropower 122 Geothermal energy 242 Geothermal energy 124 Avoided fossil fuel Biofuels 244 Heat pumps 128 use and resulting avoided costs 202 Ocean energy 246 Biogas 132 Renewable Energy Biofuels 134 Renewable municipal waste 138 Technologies in Total 248 Solid biomass 140 • Conclusion 250 • Conclusion 144 RES development and its influence on fossil fuel sectors 154 EUROBSERV’ER – THE STATE OF RENEWABLE ENERGIES IN EUROPE – 2019 EDITION EUROBSERV’ER – THE STATE OF RENEWABLE ENERGIES IN EUROPE – 2019 EDITION 4 5 EDITORIAL EDITORIAL A CHALLENGE Vincent Jacques le Seigneur, president of Observ’ER Every year for the last twenty years, Observ’ER with Another finding is that a country’s wealth or GDP energy, but the year’s recorded growth of more than Although the 2020 target has not been achieved, the input from its partners has produced the European does not make the difference, as demonstrated by 8% demonstrates its strong drive. Given the conti- Member States have already decided to raise the renewable energy barometer1. This freeze frame the countries that are furthest away from their 2020 nuous drop in module prices and the maintenance renewable share target to 32% of the energy mix by shows that the mean renewably-sourced share of objectives – the Netherlands, France, Ireland, the UK, of incentive policies, this momentum will not run out 2030. While this target is no longer binding for the energy has steadily risen (by 0.5% p.a.) and now gra- Belgium and others. Rather, everything tends to prove of steam. As the best distributed renewable energy, individual Member States, it is collectively binding vitates around 18%, which is close to the Community that energy transition and the move away from fossil photovoltaic also benefits from the appeal of self- and should be boosted by the new European Commis- target (20% in 2020). to renewable sources is first and foremost a question consumption which is now encouraged as close as sion’s first programme, the Green New Deal, voted by of ambitious, steadfast government policies. possible to the production site without suffering the European Parliament. The stakes are high, it is a If we narrow our focus to renewable electricity, the the opprobrium of public opinion like wind energy. matter of urgency, and the Member States are bound results are also significant if not noteworthy, as we What this barometer also shows, is that not all the “Decentralized” solar energy (photovoltaic panels to be judged by their results. They only have ten years bear in mind that this transition has been achieved sectors are in the same boat. The best in class, only on houses, factories or supermarkets, in contrast to get there. That is some challenge. n in less than twenty years. Almost a third of European in terms of growth, is hydropower. Even then, make with major solar farms) will account for half of solar electricity (32.1%) is now renewably sourced. The 8% no mistake… its score is only the result of better rain- energy’s expected growth. growth spurt in 2018 over the 2017 level equates to fall after years of drought. Besides, in Europe, almost a 78.3-TWh increase in production, or more than Bel- all the potential is fully harnessed (excluding small Progress is much slower as regards renewable gium’s total electricity output. hydropower) and the funding of major projects is heat, which despite the relative stability of ove- increasingly problematic. rall consumption, is struggling to get past the 20% However, a snapshot at time T also reveals that the mark (having risen from 19.5% in 2017 to 19.7% in Member States’ results are not all equal. The share The same does not apply to wind energy whose 2018 of heating and cooling consumption). The of renewable electricity dominates the mix of five positive performance reflects the efforts made by explanation is to be found in the milder winters Member States – Austria (73.1%), Sweden (66.2%), the front runners leading the pack, primarily the UK, and improved building insulation, which reduces Denmark (62.4%), Latvia (53.5%) and Portugal (52.2%). Germany and France. Despite all the legal hearings heating requirements. Yet renewable energies are This contrasts with the under-10% share of four and holdups, wind energy is the top renewable elec- used much more for space heating than for other countries – Malta, Hungary, Luxembourg and Cyprus. tricity generating sector in Europe. While the ons- heat uses (industrial processes, domestic hot water, Admittedly, some countries enjoy natural resources hore segment marks time, the offshore installations etc.) whose needs do not change. Therefore, they and/or climates that are more conducive than others are an excellent vector for growth with more power- are much more affected by this contraction than to developing renewable energies. But they are not ful, less controversial installations that now offer a conventional energies, especially solid biomass the only reasons, because there is no shortage of competitive, subsidy-free per kWh cost. (which accounts for more than ¾ of the renewable sunshine in the above two small Mediterranean energy input to heating). countries, and it is hard to see what is missing from As for solar energy, it aspires to reach the top. Its Hungary that its Central European neighbours have. output may well be three times less than wind 1. All the results presented are 2018 consolidated data. EUROBSERV’ER – THE STATE OF RENEWABLE ENERGIES IN EUROPE – 2019 EDITION EUROBSERV’ER – THE STATE OF RENEWABLE ENERGIES IN EUROPE – 2019 EDITION Energy indicators 6 7 ENERGY INDICATORS EurObserv’ER has been gathering data on Sectors for which no themed barometer was European Union renewable energy sources published in 2019 – namely hydropower, geo- used by both Eurostat and the International Energy form of primary energy. In self-producing units, only for twenty years to describe the state and thermal energy, heat pumps, biogas and Agency that is available through the following link: the part of the heat sold onwards to a third party is development of the sectors in themed baro- renewable municipal waste – have also been https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/energy/metho- included, while the heat used by the firm for its own meters. The first part of this opus is a sum- analysed and monitored in detail using the dology/annual processes is excluded from the statistics. mary of the barometers released in 2019 for latest official data for 2017 and 2018. the wind energy, solar photovoltaic, solar Electrical capacity data thus refers to the net maxi- Final energy consumption represents the sum of the thermal, CSP, biofuel, ocean energies and This document offers a full synopsis of the mum capacity defined as the maximum active power energy consumption by end-users such as house- solid biomass sectors. The summaries have energy dimension of the twelve renewable that can be supplied, continuously, with all plants holds, industry and agriculture. It is the energy deli- provided the opportunity to consolidate energy sectors developed at an industrial running, at the point of outlet to the network as of 31 vered to the end-user for all energy uses. It implies all the energy indicators with the official scale within the European Union. December of the year and is expressed in MW. that the energy used for transformation processes (consolidated) 2017 and 2018 data. and used in own use of energy producing industries As for the “heat” data, distinction is made between is excluded. gross heat production (from the transformation sec- tor) and final energy consumption in line with the As for the gross electricity and heat production Methodological note Eurostat definitions.