Renewables research should have a distinct budget, says EUREC
BRUSSELS, Belgium, June 15, 2005 (Refocus Weekly)
Renewable energy research in Europe must have a clearly-defined budget, says the group that represents research centres involved in renewable energy.
The Seventh Framework Programme for Research & Technological Development
(FP7) is the seven-year funding program of the European Union for all research
and innovation activities. It will have a budget of Euro 73 billion when it
starts in January 2007 and will cover nine themes, including energy and
environment (including climate change).
Two months ago, the European Renewable Energy Research Centres Agency launched a
campaign for a renewable energy research budget of Euro 250 million a year under
a separate line of the FP7 budget. The group has increased its political
pressure by reminding policymakers of the needs of the renewable energy sector.
“Renewable energy and energy efficiency are the cornerstone of a clean,
climate-friendly energy system,” says Nicola Pearsall of EUREC. “Researchers
in our sector are dedicated to optimising the performance of renewable energy in
electricity production and in its applications that relate to heating, cooling
and transport.”
The agency is concerned with a recent speech by EU energy commissioner Andris
Piebalgs, which hints that renewables will not be a priority under FP7 and will
not receive its share of the overall 110% budget increase for energy research.
Piebalgs re-ordered the list of research priorities in the FP7 proposal to put
carbon-intensive technologies as the top priority, and EUREC says the Greens/EFA
group in Parliament are hinting that renewables and efficiency will receive a
steep decrease in relative funding under FP7.
“A survey of EU citizens found renewable energy research to be more popular
than any other kind of energy research with the European public,” says
Pearsall, referring to the damage done to the EU's public image by the rejection
of a constitution in France and the Netherlands. “If the EU is searching for
ways to re-connect with EU public opinion, then funding research into areas
deemed important by the public might be a good place to start.”
“Greater support for renewables would mean fewer GHG emissions, lower costs
and more jobs for the related industry, and a recent study shows that renewables
could provide two million jobs by 2020, while existing green power and green
heat facilities currently displace the emission of 130 megatonnes a year of CO2
in EU-25.
The amount of CO2 reduction that EU-15 must achieve from 1990 levels to comply
with its obligation under the Kyoto Protocol is 338 Mt per year by 2012.
“The huge potential of renewable energy will only be realised if support is
given to research,” the group notes. “We are calling on the European
Parliament and Member States to amend the European Commission’s proposal by
giving renewable energy research a clearly defined budget within the non-nuclear
energy envelope and allocating an average annual spend of Euro 250 million to
this area.”
EUREC was formed in 1991 to advocate for the renewable energy research sector.
Its members are research and development groups across Europe, operating in
wind, biomass, small hydro, marine, geothermal, photovoltaics, solar thermal
electricity, solar thermal heating and cooling and solar buildings. It manages
the European Master in Renewable Energy and is a founding member of the European
Renewable Energy Council.
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