AEE applauds the presentation of the European Wind Energy Package

The wind power industry is going through critical moments and serious difficulties at the European and Spanish level. However, the wind sector has ambitious objectives – 420 GW of wind energy by 2030 in Europe and, in our country, 62 GW of wind energy for the same period – reflected in the draft of the National Plan National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC). The reality of the wind industry does not reflect this ambition.

The European Commission’s European Wind Energy Package has as its main axes:

• Accelerate the administrative processing of wind projects without reducing environmental protection, which will allow volumes of project authorizations to be obtained at the necessary pace. Around 80 GW of wind projects remain stuck in bureaucratic processes across Europe.
• Improve the design of auctions in Member States to maximize the allocation of European technology.
• Facilitate access to financing and the stability of supply chains, so that the European and Spanish wind industry continues to create employment and prosperity throughout the EU.

Each of these points is critical. Spain, one of the EU countries with the largest wind industry, has not managed to achieve more than 60% of the power foreseen in the current PNIEC. Furthermore, during the last 5 years, industrial relocation processes have been taking place in our country.

To this we must add that the wind objectives have increased in the new draft of the PNIEC (2023-2027), making it even more important and urgent to solve the problems that affect the sector so that the wind collaborates with all its potential to exit of the current energy crisis, accelerate the energy transition and reduce energy costs for the EU economy.

Now more than ever and urgently, we must join forces between the industry, the EU and governments so that the industrial value chain of the wind sector maintains its position of competitiveness and leadership. “It is necessary to activate in the short term mechanisms to support and safeguard the industrial wind production capacity in Europe, which balance the situation with the IRA USA Law and with the commercial strategies of Asian manufacturers. The Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA) will be a crucial structural regulatory framework for the wind industry, but its passage and implementation will take time. Meanwhile, we must adopt emergency mechanisms that support the financial survival and growth of current wind industrial capacities,” says Juan Virgilio Márquez, CEO of AEE.