Onshore wind will double growth, PV will increase by three times and offshore wind by seventeen. Concentrated solar and energy from streams and waves will increase installed capacity by up to eleven times. The production of heat pumps will triple, while that of geothermal heat and solar thermal plants will quadruple. This is what emerges from the scenario outlined by the European Environment Agency, after taking into consideration the national action plans on renewable energies of the Member States of the European Union aimed at achieving the collective target of 20% clean energy per 2020.
The EEA underlines that despite the interesting growth rates of the various renewable sources, the 2020 target will be reached with difficulty. It is estimated that 43% of all green energy production will be used for heating and cooling, with biomass covering 80% of clean heat supplies. Transportation will account for the smallest portion of consumption (12%), despite the fastest growth. Onshore wind power in Europe will reach 168,8 GW (+104%), while offshore wind will reach 44,2 GW (+1.600%).
Photovoltaic will reach an installed capacity of 54,4 GW (+231%), while concentrated solar will reach 7 GW (+1.066%). Marine energy, from currents and waves, will in turn register a surge of 1.050% reaching an installed capacity of 2,5 GW. Also important were the increases in geothermal energy (100% with 1,6 GW installed) and electricity from biomass (93% with 43,6 GW). On the other hand, the growth of hydroelectric (+14%) was more contained, reaching 139,7 GW of installed capacity. As regards thermal renewables, heat from geothermal will reach 2,6 million tonnes of oil equivalent (+271%), solar thermal 6,3 Mtoe (+350%), biomass 90,4 Mtoe (+47% ), heat pumps 12,2 Mtoe (+205%).
