Study on Technical Assistance in Realisation of the 2016 Report on Renewable Energy, in preparation of the Renewable Energy Package for the Period 2020 -2030 in the European Union ("RES-Study")

The objective of this study is to provide technical assistance in the preparation of the 2016 Report on Renewable Energy, in preparation of the Renewable Energy Package for the period 2020-2030 in the European Union. Key findings are:

Renewable energy sources (RES) are deployed by all EU Member States in the electricity, heating & cooling and transport sectors. This study provides insights into the level of deployment and the utilisation of different RES technologies in the EU-28 including an outlook towards 2020, both overall and on the sector level. The average renewable energy share (RES share) in the EU-28 gross final energy consumption in 2013-14 was 15.5 %, exceeding the indicative trajectory for 2013/2014 set out in the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) by almost a third. According to preliminary estimates, a 16.4 % share for 2015 is also well above the 2015/2016 indicative trajectory set out in the RED.

Member States have addressed non-economic barriers since the introduction of the Renewables Directive. However, across Member States and sectors various non-economic barriers can still be found, for example due to permitting procedures. Such barriers hamper the deployment of renewable energies: they entail costs for project developers, lead to delays in deployment or can even prevent projects from being realised and thus reduce overall deployment. A range of measures is presented by sector for reducing non-economic barriers.