GLOBAL TENDERS

Wind will be half of electricity in a climate neutral Europe

WindEurope’s 2021 annual event, “Electric City”, starts today. The three-day conference and exhibition will gather 400 exhibitors and more than 8,000 participants in Copenhagen’s Bella Center to explore the role of wind-based electrification in Europe’s future energy system. By establishing new partnerships beyond wind, “Electric City” aims to promote the use of wind energy across all sectors of Europe’s economy. Renewables are now 38% of all the electricity consumed in the EU, and that’s set to keep rising rapidly. But electricity is only one quarter of the energy we consume in Europe today. The EU wants to change that. The EU Commission want to increase the share of electricity in the energy mix to 75% by 2050: with 57% of energy consumption being powered directly by electricity; and another 18% coming from renewable hydrogen and its derivatives. Europe is going to see a surge in electricity demand as it transitions towards climate neutrality. In the EU electricity demand will more than double from 3,000 TWh today to 6,800 TWh by 2050. And wind energy will be central to this transition. Today wind is 16% of Europe’s electricity mix. The EU want it to be 50% by 2050. To electrify its energy system, the EU needs to increase its wind energy capacity to 1000 GW of onshore wind and 300 GW of offshore wind by 2050. Up from a combined total of only 180 GW today. That requires Europe to build twice as many new wind farms every year as it is building today. To deliver that it’s essential to simplify the permitting rules and procedures for new wind farms. And ensure permitting authorities are adequately staffed. Europe won’t deliver its electrification targets if it cannot improve permitting. As ever WindEurope’s 2021 annual event, “Electric City”, showcases what’s happening in wind energy. But it also brings together those working to electrify transport, heating and industry. Event partners include Eurelectric, Hydrogen Europe, the European Association for Electromobility (AVERE), the European Heat Pump Association (epha) and the European Association for Storage of Energy (EASE).

WWEC2022 will discuss how Europe and other world regions can achieve a truly sustainable energy supply

The World Wind Energy Association WWEA and the Italian Wind Energy Association ANEV highlight the 20th World Wind Energy Conference WWEC2022 as a meeting place to discuss how the energy supply in Europe and in other world regions can be converted to 100% renewable energy supply, thus achieving true sustainability. Regional collaboration will help to support and accelerate the shift towards renewables. In Rimini, the conference will discuss in particular opportunities for and synergies of close collaboration in the energy field in Europe, the Mediterranean and the MENA region. Accordingly, experts from companies, from governments, international agencies and beyond will gather in Rimini to discuss existing opportunities as well as challenges on the way towards a renewable energy future. WWEA and ANEV invite the world wind community to present their latest achievements and insights and to submit an abstract for presentation at the WWEC2022 website www.wwec2022.org by 1 February. Italy

18th Windforce Conference: Achieving climate targets and creating jobs

The 18th Windforce Conference will take place from 20-22 June in Bremerhaven. The motto of this years conference is "Offshore Wind: Implementing Climate Protection Targets and Creating Jobs". This years partner country is France, a market with a current development path of 20 gigawatts offshore wind awarded by 2030. Germany’s Federal Minister of Economics and Climate Affairs, Dr Robert Habeck, acts as patron of the Windforce Conference. The international sustainable development of the supplier industry for offshore wind and "green" hydrogen is the focus of the conference. WAB expects more than 250 experts on offshore wind power and the emerging "green" hydrogen economy from Germany and abroad. Germany

BII to invest US$200 million in African Hydropower projects

British International Investment (BII) has announced its commitment to invest US$200 million in hydropower projects across Africa. A pipeline of new projects will be developed including the first tri-national PPP in Africa (Ruzizi III HPP) and the largest power plant (Mpatamanga HPP) in Malawi. BII is partnering with the Norwegian Investment Fund (Norfund) and Scatec in a joint venture (JV). Norfund and Scatec will provide investments of up to US$100 million in hydropower-related projects on the African continent over the next several years. The JV’s investments are expected to support the creation of 180,000 jobs, avoid at least 270,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually and is expected to provide enough clean power to over 3 million people.