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RENEWABLE ENERGY POLICIES TO DEVELOP INVESTMENTS. Juan Alario, Associate Director European Investment Bank (BEI). 10th Inter-Parliamentary Meeting on Renewable Energy. Madrid, 16 April 2010. 1.1 The European Investment Bank.
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RENEWABLE ENERGY POLICIES TO DEVELOP INVESTMENTS Juan Alario, Associate Director European Investment Bank (BEI) 10th Inter-Parliamentary Meeting on Renewable Energy Madrid, 16 April 2010
1.1 The European Investment Bank • European Union’s long-term financing institution set up in 1958 by the Treaty of Rome. • Shareholders: 27 EU Member States • Lending in 2009: • European Union: EUR 70 bn • Outside the EU: EUR 9 bn • Total lending: EUR 79 bn • Broad range of financial instruments: from senior loans to equity, including specific instruments for RDI projects • TA facilities, notably outside the EU, including the new ELENA facility to support urban energy programmes
1.2 EIB Renewable energy (RE) lending • Substantial lending in low-carbon technologies: • Lending of EUR 4.2 bn to RE and EUR 1.5 bn to EE in 2009 • Support to the less developed technologies (e.g. off-shore wind) and markets (e.g. RE/EE in cities) • Expertise and experience in the whole range of low-carbon technologies • Expanding support during the crisis (practically doubling lending to RE and EE in 2009, relative to 2008) • Strong cooperation with the Commission to develop new initiatives for low carbon technologies
2.1 RE issues in the EU • RE in different development stages: • Mature (e.g. on-shore wind): close to competitiveness with alternatives • Emerging (PV, CSP, off-shore wind): cost expected to decrease rapidly • New technologies in the early development stage (such as wave energy) • Impact of the crisis: • substantial decrease in RE investments in 2009, but now increasing again • Cost of equity and financing (spreads) has increased
2.2 RE issues in the EU • Prices of wind turbines and PV equipment decreasing recently, but price trends dependent on many factors (raw material prices, regulations, etc.) • Uneven development of RE technologies: substantial development for on-shore wind and PV, but still limited for biomass, for instance • Uneven development of RE markets, but positive developments in the less developed markets in recent times
3.1 Issues to develop investments in the sector(1) • Regulatory framework: • Clear and stable regulatory framework • Link to energy prices, particularly electricity prices, increased risk to investors, but RE protected against price fluctuations • However, regulatory frameworks need to be adapted to market and technological changes: • Problems mainly with emerging technologies: as market expands total subsidies increase very rapidly • Regulatory change should not create regulatory uncertainty • Convergence between feed-in tariffs and green certificate systems?
3.2Issues to develop investments in the sector(2) • Predictable and transparent permitting process • Access and capacity of the electricity networks • Address market failures, such as introduction of RE in the building environment (e.g. solar for thermal applications), heat networks using RE or geothermal (reservoir risk)
4. Conclusions • Recently, substantial changes in the EU RE markets, linked mainly to the crisis: RE prices decreasing, changes in regulation • Success in some leading markets is spreading out to other less developed markets of the EU, but need to accelerate movement • Need to support the less developed RE to achieve RE objectives, particulary RE for thermal applications and RE in the urban environment • EIB is launching new initiatives in support of EU objectives in the RE field.
