Brussels urges speeding up permits and improving auctions to save EU wind sector from competition from China

This Tuesday, the European Commission urged EU countries to establish better and faster conditions so that the wind sector can deploy all its capacities to be able to install its share of renewable energy that the EU needs between now and 2030 and compete with China at a time when inflation, the high price of materials, the lack of qualified labor and insufficient state planning is undermining a sector that until now has been able to supply the entire European market. To this end, it has presented a series of measures, among which it urges EU governments to speed up the authorization processes for wind farms and “improve” public auctions, so that price is not the only award criterion and between in dispute others such as cybersecurity or guarantees of timely execution.

These two elements are part of the so-called “Wind Package” which, as Ursula von der Leyen announced in September, the Commission approved this Tuesday. The objective is to allow the wind sector, which until now has been able to assume the entire EU deployment, to continue doing so, at a time when the EU has to significantly increase the installation of wind power each year to reach the goal set for 2030 and in which, in the foreign market, it competes with giants like China.

As the Energy Commissioner, Kadris Simson, has explained, it is not about “closing” the European market to wind energy from China or other countries, but about “pampering” a domestic sector that until now has been able to take care of all the wind energy in the EU before running into obstacles such as the increase in the cost of components, the lack of predictability and drive on the part of the Member States and qualified personnel.

On a financial level, Brussels is willing to help by allowing this sector to access the 1.4 billion budgets – duplicated – of the Investment Fund, a specific line from the European Investment Bank and the State aid that the Commission encourages countries to grant. This push will be completed with the plan to strengthen electricity networks throughout the EU that it will present in November.

The Spanish wind sector has welcomed the package of measures, which it considers “an important support and boost for the wind sector to guarantee its competitiveness and meet the wind development objectives”, also in Spain, where the new National Integrated Plan Energy and Climate (PNIEC) foresees 62 gigawatts of onshore wind and three more of offshore wind by 2030.

The Wind Business Association (AEE) has “welcomed” measures that “are aimed at providing stability to supply chains and guaranteeing a fair playing field between different markets globally.”

Precisely this Tuesday, the Ministry of Ecological Transition has announced that it will allocate 185.7 million of European Next Generation funds to replace and repower 1,205 old wind turbines with 167 of the latest generation, so that with 86% less it will be possible to generate almost double of electricity. Within this same aid, another item will be allocated to the renovation of mini-hydraulic facilities of up to 10 megawatts and another to finance six projects to create the first treatment plants for wind blades and other components, in which it is expected that Spain can recycle everything. the annual volume of these volumes.

Faster and better auctions

In 2022, wind installations generated 16% of the electricity consumed by the EU and installed a capacity of 16 new gigawatts, which is a “record” figure but insufficient for the EU to meet its goal of having 500 GW in 2030.. This means installing 37 GW new each year by companies in a sector that are currently “underutilized” due to the “slow deployment of wind energy due to an appropriate demand forecast for wind turbines in the EU.” .

Faster licensing and auctions not just about prices

To reverse this situation, Brussels asks European governments to “accelerate deployment through a predictable and rapid authorization process”. They are encouraged to apply the new Renewable Directive now and to delimit the acceleration zones it contemplates so that the process lasts only one year at most.. And it creates the “Accele-RES” initiative to digitize the process and provide “technical assistance” to public administrations so that they are faster and train their staff, which is one of the reasons that have been identified in Spain to justify the collars of bottle in the authorizations.

To put an end to the 'stoppage' in the production chain that it attributes to insufficient planning, the Commission asks governments to “improve” their public auctions of wind energy. To begin with, being more “transparent” about the medium and long-term calendars. Regarding the substance, Brussels wants them to be awarded not only at the lowest price, but also for other factors such as digitalization, the added value of the equipment or the commitment to execute within the given period.

The AEE has stressed that the improvement of the auctions seeks to guarantee that “the turbines installed in Europe are cyber-secure and comply with defined labor and environmental standards” and requests that both the authorization and the auctions include “prequalification criteria, ensuring that they do not impact the cost competitiveness of the projects”.

100,000 trainings

Within the renewable energy sector, wind energy is one of those that requires the most qualified workforce and the Commission notes that there is a lack of workers with the necessary training. Therefore, it will facilitate the launch of training focused on the wind sector in the academies that will be launched in the Member States contemplated by the Zero Emissions Law.

As indicated this Tuesday, it expects that in three years it will be able to train 100,000 students.

unfair competition

In addition to strengthening the position of the European wind sector within the EU, Brussels wants to protect it from the world leader, China, which is supplying other countries whose markets it believes European companies could also enter.

To protect its competitiveness it will use a two-way approach. On the one hand, protect it from competitions that it considers unfair by monitoring possible unfair practices. On the other hand, seeking the arrival of the European wind industry to other markets through the trade agreements that the EU closes with them.