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“For the first time, the demand for renewable energy in Europe exceeds 500 TWh, or half a billion Guarantees of Origin,” said Tom Lindberg, CEO of ECOHZ, commenting on the 2018 statistics of the Association of Issuing Organizations (AIB) . “If the growth trend of the last five years continues, the Origin Guarantee market will soon surpass 1,000 million euros,” added Lindberg, noting that “customers are willing to pay a premium on certain sources of energy.”
The European Union has previously ordered that you purchase Guarantees of Origin to document and report the consumption of renewable energy in Europe.
The current volume reported is 499 TWh, but it is expected to increase by an additional 10 TWh, when data not yet provided for the fourth quarter in Germany is included. This will boost the total expected demand for renewable electricity documented with Guarantees of Origin to about 510 TWh. This represents an increase of 8% compared to the 470 TWh in 2017.
The demand for renewable electricity continues to show strong growth in the largest markets in Europe. The Netherlands, France, Switzerland and Italy show record high demand in 2018. French market demand increased from 21 TWh to 33 TWh in 2018, while Italy registered a record demand of 45 TWh compared to 41 TWh last year. Although the final numbers have not yet been published for Germany, they will probably exceed 100 TWh for the first time.
Households, organizations and businesses contribute to market growth. But the corporate sector is the main driver because more and more companies consider that sustainability is necessary for future competitiveness. There are several initiatives to support corporate sustainability ambitions. A remarkable initiative is RE100.
The RE100 initiative now has 161 corporate members who have publicly committed to consuming 100% renewable energy. In addition, the EU recently approved a new Renewable Energy Directive (REDII), which strengthens the Guarantee of Origin system by incorporating it into European legislation.
Source: El Periódico de la Energía.
This post is also available in: Spanish
