Several European renewable energy associations have called for changes to the EU’s innovation Fund as it “puts renewable energy projects at a structural disadvantage”.
Associations, including WindEurope and Ocean Energy Europe, have written a joint letter to the European Commission vice president Frans Timmermans laying bare their concerns that no renewable energy generation project has been selected in the first call for projects within the Innovation Fund.
Other trade associations that signed the letter are Solar Heat Europe, Hydropower Europe, The Association of European Renewable Energy Research Centres, European Renewable Energies Federation, European Solar Thermal Electricity Association, EGEC Geothermal and European Heat Pump Association.
Chiefly among the issues highlighted is the fact that the lack of support for renewables is contrary to the original policy intent and undermines the REPowerEU objective of substituting fossil fuels with renewables.
That said, for the second large-scale call of renewable applications, the number plummeted in both absolute and relative terms, with just 10 per cent of proposals relating to renewables, compared to 20 per cent proposals in the first call, according to the signatories of the letter.
“It is a clear sign that the renewable sector has lost confidence in the Fund. The limited prospects of success mean that companies cannot justify the substantial resources needed to apply.
“Renewables will always be the fundamental driver of the energy transition. The decarbonisation of industry, transport, heating and cooling- including hydrogen production- must be built upon primary energy sources which are renewable.”
Associations
Industry Advocates for ‘Renewables Only’ third large-scale call
The Fund is one of the world’s largest funding programs for the demonstration of innovative low-carbon technologies, and EU’s most impactful tool to drive clean energy innovation.
It is the aim of the Fund to bring to the market industrial solutions to decarbonize Europe and support its transition to climate neutrality. For the period 2020-2030, the Innovation Fund will allocate around €38 billion from the auctioning of allowances under the EU Emissions Trading system, subject to the carbon prices.
As a result, the renewable energy associations of Europe have called the Commission to dedicate the third large-scale call to renewable energy categories only- to restore confidence in the Fund within these sectors and correct for earlier calls.
In addition, the associations are urging for the adjustment of the rules of future calls thereby indicating that renewable energy projects may compete, and also for the creation of calls for intermediate-sized projects- with capital expenditure of between €7.5 million and circa €60 million.
According to industry, the innovation Fund rewards the scale of individual projects above all else, to the detriment of a technology’s longer term scalability, while also underestimating the volume of GHG emissions avoided from renewables.
Furthermore, the assessment of the maturity of projects has tended to be very exacting- particularly on measures of financial maturity, according to the signatories of the letter, also stating that the Fund does not appropriately separate different renewable technologies.
The renewable industry stressed that greater sector-specific expertise is needed to inform the assessment of the criteria of “Degree of Innovation”, as there have been instances where clearly innovative elements of proposals have not been scored as being particularly innovative.
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