The annual onshore and offshore wind event organized by WindEurope brought together over 10,000 participants and features dozens of conference sessions, hundreds of speakers and over 500 exhibitors from the field. Held in the Spanish city of Bilbao, the event saw the signing of the Spanish Wind Charter which aims to identify activities to expedite the expansion of wind energy in this country, as well as to maximize its social and economic benefits. It determined six directions of action for the development of the wind energy sector and specified the tools for implementing these directions, according to the WindEurope website.
Greater visibility and robustness in wind energy planning, as well as improved wind energy auction design, are the first two courses of action. The third is better coordination between wind energy companies, which entails better predictability and promotion of long-term agreements. The fourth direction includes monitoring international trade practices in order to eliminate unfair competition and finally, thus boosting the wind energy production capacity in Spain.
Global business sustainability assessment platform EcoVadis, WindEurope and five leading organizations in the wind energy industry have announced the launch of the Wind Energy Initiative, which goal is to accelerate the adoption of sustainable practices by fostering strong cooperation between trading partners, as well as facilitating a more positive influence in their value chains.
MORE:
- CLEAN TECHNOLOGIES REDUCED THE GROWTH OF GLOBAL CO2 EMISSIONS
- NEW EU INVESTMENTS IN HYDROGEN INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT
- COMMISSION APPROVES UP TO 6.9 BILLION EUROS FOR THE THIRD IMPORTANT PROJECT OF COMMON EUROPEAN INTEREST IN THE HYDROGEN VALUE CHAIN
The Initiative’s strategic goals include increasing the wind industry’s contribution to global efforts in the fight against climate change by prioritizing reduced carbon emissions. There is also the continued promotion of the welfare and fair treatment of all individuals involved in the wind energy supply chain. The third strategic goal implies promoting the preservation of biodiversity for the sake of ecosystem protection in terms of the negative impact of activities related to the wind energy sector. Finally, significant membership growth should be encouraged too.
To achieve these goals, the Initiative will apply the EcoVadis sustainability assessment methodology, as a voluntary standard for evaluating its suppliers, and will also support suppliers on their path to sustainability by providing a clear strategy for improving performance regarding ESG criteria.
In terms of investments in wind energy in Europe, they doubled last year compared to 2022. In 2023, Europe approved significantly more permits for new onshore wind farms than in previous years, largely due to European Union rules on permits for renewable energy sources.
As stated on the WindEurope website, estimates show that the European Union will install an average of 29GW per year in the period from 2024 to 2030, which will bring the installed capacity in the European Union to 393GW by 2030.
The timely expansion of European onshore and offshore power grids remains the biggest challenge to the accelerated development of wind energy. Â
Energy portal
