European Commission Proposal for a Directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources

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Press release from                                                              
Vestas Wind Systems A/S                                                         
                                                                                
Randers, 23 January 2008                                                       
Press release No. 2/2008                                                       

European Commission Proposal for a Directive on the promotion of the use of     
energy from renewable sources                                                   

Vestas highly welcomes the European Commission Proposal for a Directive on the  
promotion of energy from renewable sources.                                     

On 23 January 2008, the European Commission has published a Proposal for a      
Directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources for the  
27 European Member States. The proposal aims to establish an overall binding    
target of a 20 per cent share of renewable energy sources in energy consumption 
and binding national targets by 2020 in line with the overall EU target.        

“At Vestas, we are particularly glad to see the clear definition of what is     
renewable energy and, specially, what is not renewable energy,” emphasizes      
Ditlev Engel, President and CEO of Vestas Wind Systems A/S.                     

“If implemented, this directive will be a major contribution to reaching the 20 
per cent renewables target in 2020. With wind power's value proposition for     
society, we believe that our technology will become an even more attractive     
solution for many European Member States to fulfil their national targets,”     
concludes Ditlev Engel.                                                         

Besides the clear definition of renewable energy, some of the main contributions
of the Commission's proposal are the following:                                 

1. If implemented, it can provide stable and predictable support schemes to     
promote the needed investments in clean renewable energy technologies, such as  
wind power as modern energy. The suggested approach of maintaining well-known   
and effective national support schemes and a gradual implementation of a        
voluntary trading mechanism could secure this important and needed investment   
stability for the coming years.                                                 

2. It can increase transparency and provide investors and the industry with a   
clear indication of the wind market developments in all countries through the   
development of national action plans and the ongoing reporting to the EU        
Commission. This is particular important for a company like Vestas which has    
more than 20 production facilities in Europe.                                   

3. It can help to overcome many of the barriers for the development of clean    
wind power technology in Europe in connection with the development of grid      
connection and the improvement of the national planning processes.              

If the EU Directive is approved and implemented by the 27 Member States and the 
European Parliament, the European wind power industry will have the most        
advanced renewables regulatory framework in the world. This will of course be   
necessary if Europe is to lead the way with modern energy helping reduce energy 
dependency and climate change.                                                  

                                                                                
For further comments, please contact Peter Brun, Senior Vice President of       
Vestas' Group Government Relations on telephone +45 4160 6102.                  

Yours sincerely                                                                 
Vestas Wind Systems A/S                                                         


Peter Brun                                                                      
Senior Vice President, Group Government Relations

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