Luxembourg has welcomed the European Union’s (EU) plans to almost double its existing share of renewable energy by 2030.
The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament have reached a provisional political agreement on the EU Renewable Energy Directive. This forms part of the “Fit for 55” package and still needs to be formally approved by the two institutions.
Luxembourg’s Minister for Energy, Claude Turmes, welcomed the agreement’s conclusion, stating that the EU now has clear regulatory and investment signals to accelerate the deployment of renewable energies: "The acceleration of the development renewable energies is an important step for our climate and also for our industry. I particularly welcome the increase in the target to increase the share of renewable energy in the EU's overall energy consumption from 32.5% to 42.5% by 2030, with an additional indicative complement of 2.5% which would make it possible to reach 45%.”
Furthermore, the Luxembourg minister welcomed the agreed industrial targets for renewable hydrogen: 42% by 2030 and 60% by 2035. He said: “I am happy that the last-minute attempt to dilute this target has been contained and limited to a much smaller possible discount than what the pro-nuclear countries wanted.”
According to the Ministry of Energy and Spatial Planning, the target of 42.5% renewable energy at European level will mean that Luxembourg will “probably” aim for a target of 35% renewable energy in 2030 (compared to the 25% currently listed in the 2020 national energy and climate plan).
In 2020, Luxembourg had a target of 11% to reach, which it achieved. In 2021, Luxembourg then achieved a percentage of 11.7% renewable energies in its final energy consumption (all sectors included). The ministry recalled that this total figure should be analysed considering the size of the country’s territory and the importance of the transport sector (and especially gas tourism) in the national energy consumption.
With regard to the various renewable electricity production technologies, Luxembourg has a good position at European level, according to the ministry. In the field of photovoltaics, the Grand Duchy occupied fourth place out of 27 in 2021 (latest figures available), while in the field of wind power, it occupied fourteenth place out of 27 in 2022 (according to the EUR'Observer).
