Only 5 countries (Latvia, Sweden, Finland, Austria and Portugal) have reached or passed the 12% renewables mark in their national energy mix. This is the first Barometer to include figures from the ten new EU Member States in its monitoring, but this had no significant effect on the overall share of renewables in the European energy mix. In primary energy production biomass is by far the leading renewable energy source in the EU with a share of 27% in 2004.
Also the EU objective of a 21% share of renewables in gross electrical consumption looks unlikely to be reached. Only 4 countries are close to their objectives for 2010: Latvia, Slovenia, Finland and Denmark, leaving the other 21 EU countries far behind. However, installed capacity for each renewable energy sector has grown in the years from 2001 to 2004. In electricity generation from renewable sources, hydroelectric power is still the principal renewable source, but the growth of wind power is considerable.
Source: GP Newsdesk
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