Hundreds of gigawatts of wind power projects are awaiting permits to connect to the European electricity grid. The delay threatens to slow down the transition to green energy, industry association WindEurope warned, quoted by Euractiv.
Why is it important?
Gaining access to the electricity grid is now the biggest obstacle to the expansion of renewable energy in Europe, according to WindEurope.
Europe's energy grids are being modernized too slowly to accommodate more capacity. In many EU countries, the procedures for issuing permits for the network are too slow. That's why some projects face waiting times of up to nine years to get the go-ahead.
"The system is congested - and holding up hundreds of gigawatts of wind farms," said WindEurope chief executive Giles Dixon.
European wind projects with a total of more than 500 gigawatts of potential capacity are awaiting responses to their requests to connect to the grid in countries including France, Germany, Ireland, Poland and Spain, the data showed.
Italy and the UK have more than 100 GW of potential projects awaiting grid connection assessments.
The EU aims to derive 42,5% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. This implies expanding wind power capacity to 425 GW by 2030, up from 220 GW today.
What next?
The pipeline of wind projects is at various stages and not all are likely to be built. Some of them compete with each other for subsidies, WindEurope said.
Part of the problem is that projects are evaluated on a first-come, first-served basis when they apply, meaning that the most mature projects—those most likely to proceed—can't jump the queue.
The European energy industry has called on governments to boost investment in expanding grids to prepare for a greater influx of renewable energy and to filter applications so that projects that are ready to go live receive permits quickly.