European energy companies to invest up to one trillion euros in renewables by 2030
Handelsblatt
European energy companies are planning record investments in renewable energy over the coming years, business-daily Handelsblatt writes. By 2030, spending on wind and solar energy will be at least 650 billion euros and could total up to one trillion, according to an analysis carried out by management consultancy Kearney for the newspaper. German energy utilities RWE and EnBW are among those planning large investments in wind and solar parks. By the end of 2022 alone, RWE plans to invest a net five billion euros in renewable energies and EnBW plans to invest around four billion euros by 2025, the newspaper writes. "The funds for the EU Green Deal, but also the coronavirus aid, open up a great opportunity to build up a new, sustainable industry faster than would be the case in normal times," Markus Krebber, CFO of RWE, told Handelsblatt.
The Spanish energy company Iberdrola plans to invest around 34 billion euros in renewable energies by 2025 while Italy’s Enel will invest around 70 billion by 2030, according to the newspaper. Consulting firm Kearney expects annual renewables investment in Europe to rise to 90 billion euros as early as 2022 - up from around 60 billion euros in 2020. The main reasons for the investment boom are political support, reinforced by the EU Green Deal, and the fact that wind and solar power are becoming increasingly competitive due to technological maturity and economies of scale and digitalisation, Handelsblatt writes. "What we're seeing right now is a megatrend. Companies are becoming increasingly aware that they can only achieve the climate targets of the countries and the European Union if they invest in the next few years," energy expert Ulf Moslener of the Frankfurt School of Finance told the newspaper.
EU leaders in December 2020 decided to raise the bloc's 2030 climate target to at least 55 percent, a move that means current renewables goals also have to be corrected upwards. Most of renewables growth is expected in solar and wind energy in Europe.
