Draft shows that Europe is committed to expanding wind energy despite Trump's criticism
A draft declaration that is due to be signed by the leaders of European governments, including Germany, Britain, and Denmark, showed they will continue to expand their wind power projects despite Donald Trump's escalating criticism.
Trump has openly criticized the European countries' efforts at switching to low-carbon energies. He said that wind turbines are "losers". Without providing any evidence, he claimed that the more wind turbines that a country owns, the more it loses.
A draft summit declaration seen by ', shows that nine European governments are planning to commit to speeding up the 'expansion of off-shore wind power by large-scale cross-border projects to reach their target of 300 gigawatts of offshore -wind capacity by 2050.
The declaration also stated that Belgium, France Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, and other participating EU countries would pledge to reach up to 100GW of the goal through joint cross-border project.
The draft stated that expanding offshore renewable energy would "contribute to promoting a secure, stable and affordable energy supply, drive local value creation and strengthen our industries, competitiveness and increase our strategic autonomy, and create jobs."
The failure of wind farm auctions across a number of North Sea countries is due to factors such as higher capital costs and component prices.
In a joint statement, the governments said they would increase their efforts to increase funding?for projects like wind, including by leveraging the EU budget and subsidy structures such as "contracts for differences" that ensure power plants receive a constant revenue stream when they are up and running.
Last year, wind and solar energy produced more electricity in the EU than fossil fuels for the first time. This shows the EU's continued move towards low-carbon energies despite the resistance of some governments. (Reporting and editing by Susan Fenton; Kate Abnett)
(source: Reuters)
