RENEWABLES : EU SET TO EXCEED 20% TARGET BY 2020.

Good news: not only is the EU expected to achieve its target of a 20% share of renewables in the energy mix by 2020, but it could even go beyond this. According to a report published on 4 January by EWEA (European Wind Energy Association), "taken together, the national action plans show that the EU27 will meet 20.7% of its 2020 energy consumption from renewables". According to this study, the action plans show that one third (34%) of EU electricity demand will be supplied from renewables by 2020. This 34% is made up of 14% from wind energy (10% onshore, 4% offshore), 10.5% from hydro, 6.6% from biomass, 2.4% from solar photovoltaic, 0.5% from CSP (solar thermal), 0.3% from geothermal and 0.1% from ocean.

Wind energy will generate 14% of Europe's total electricity demand in 2020, up from 4.2% in 2009. Ireland will be the country with the highest wind energy penetration level at 36.4% of its total electricity demand, followed by Denmark, at 31%. Fifteen member...