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