Renewable energy share in European Union increased to 11,6% in 2009
The new EurObserv'ER report "The state of renewable energy in Europe" presents an estimate for the share of renewable energy in overall energy consumption in Europe. This share is estimated at 11.6% for 2009, compared to 10.4% in 2008. EurObserv'ER is a cooperation body of experts in the field of renewable energy that reports at national and European level, in support of European policy.
The Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) is a consortium partner in the EurObserv’ER project and contributes with various activities, including supplying Dutch figures on the development of renewable energy in the previous year. As well as the figures on turnover and employment in this sector. Those figures for the Netherlands are reflected in the January report issued by ECN.
The increase of 1.2 percentage points of the renewable energy share in gross final energy consumption results in a renewable energy consumption of 131.7 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe) in 2009 (up 6.3 Mtoe) of a total of 1136.4 Mtoe in real terms. This result of the growth in the share observed in 2009, despite impressive growth in some renewable sectors, cannot be attributed to the rise in renewably-sourced final energy consumption alone but instead stems for more than half from a drop in total gross final energy consumption.
Key data
Moreover the report presents for the year 2009 in the EU the following key data:
• Renewable energy share in total electricity consumption: 18.2%
• Renewable energy employment: 912 thousand jobs
• Renewable energy turnover: 120 billion euro
EurObserv’ER estimates that for the year 2009 the renewable energy share in total electricity consumption has increased almost 2 percentage points (from 16.4% in 2008 to 18.2% in 2009).
‘The State of Renewable Energies in Europe’ gives detailed capacity and energy performance data for all 27 Member States of the European Union. Addressed are: wind power, photovoltaics, solar thermal energy and solar thermal electricity, small hydropower, geothermal energy, ground source heat pumps, biogas, biofuels, municipal solid waste, solid biomass and ocean energy.
Regional case studies
The publication presents five country case studies, where specific regions are particularly strong in renewable energy industry: Portugal (Baixo Alentejo), Bulgaria (Sofia District), Northern Ireland (Camphill Community), Belgium (Wallonia) and the Czech Republic (Kněžice). ECN contributes to the database of policies for renewable energy for a number of countries. These ‘policy files’ can be viewed on http://www.eurobserv-er.org/policy.asp.
About the EurObserv’ER Barometer
The EurObserv’ER Barometer regularly publishes indicators reflecting the current dynamics in renewable energies (solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal and biomass, biogas, biofuels) worldwide and within the European Union.
The EurObserv’ER barometer is a project supported by the European Commission within the DG TREN "Intelligent Energy Europe" programme. It is also supported by the Ademe, the French Environment and Energy management Agency. The interactive database on the website allows you to download the Barometer data separately. This will allow you to create your own graphs to be used in your publication.
EurObserv’ER provides e-mail notifications at each Barometer release. Signing-in by entering your e-mail address at www.eurobserv-er.org will keep you informed on future publications.
For more information please contact ECN researcher Luuk Beurskens, email: l.beurskens@remove-this-part-ecn.nl and telephone number: +31 224-564789.
