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A Quantitative Assessment of Direct Support Schemes for Renewables
This EURELECTRIC report seeks to provide input to the ongoing debate on means of promoting the use of renewable sources of energy (RES) in Europe. Based on data received from 20 electricity companies, the 132-page report provides an estimate of the direct financial support to RES in 2001 and of the likely evolution of these support schemes by the year 2010 in different European countries.

The 2001 Directive on the Promotion of Electricity Produced from Renewable Energy Sources in the Internal Market sets a Community target of sourcing 12 % of gross inland consumption from RES by 2010, with an indicative figure of 22.1 % for electricity. The Directive tasks the Commission to evaluate the application of national mechanisms for supporting - directly or indirectly - electricity producers and assess the success of the support systems in promoting the consumption of electricity produced from renewable energy sources.

The report is based on data from electricity companies in the EU-15 plus the Czech Republic, Estonia, Norway, Poland and Switzerland provided by members of the EURELECTRIC Working Group on Renewables & Distributed Generation, with analysis by the EURELECTRIC Energy Policy unit. Based on the feedback received from questionnaire and consultation, estimation of actual costs of direct support to RES and of their evolution in the various European countries has been made.

The report provides an estimate of the direct financial support to RES in 2001 and of the likely evolution of these support schemes by the year 2010 in different European countries. The analysis only takes account of direct financial support to RES, other types of support being mentioned for information in the individual country sections in annex, including support schemes such as capital investment aid, tax measures, research and development support and biomass incentives. The assessment is performed by extrapolating the impact of direct support schemes in EU-15 Countries, assuming a scenario where Directive targets are met but not exceeded. This scenario is not intended as a forecast of the actual evolution of RES-generated electricity.

The report demonstrates that, assuming a scenario whereby the RES Directive Targets are met without being exceeded, a very substantial level of expenditure will result if the existing RES direct support schemes continue to 2010. The report thus confirms the need for a critical assessment and review of RES support mechanisms.

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