The European Technology & Innovation Platform on Wind energy (ETIPWind) released a sector-wide strategy to maximise the impact of Europe's funding for wind research and innovation (R&I). The sector calls on the EU to establish a European Fund for Wind Research & Competitiveness under the next EU budget. The Fund should safeguard the competitiveness of the European wind industry and to secure Europe's technology sovereignty in clean tech.
Last week, at the WindEurope Annual Event in Copenhagen, ETIPWind launched its latest report From Innovation to Industrial Competitiveness'. The report presents a common European strategy for wind research & competitiveness. As defined and agreed by the wind industry, academia, and representatives from National Governments.
The wind industry remains Europe's flagship clean tech industry. Wind energy companies and research institutes employ over 370,000 people and contribute more than 52bn to EU GDP. Wind energy is a home-grown energy source with 99% of the turbines installed in Europe being "made-in-Europe". And the industrial footprint of wind energy continues to grow. Europe's wind energy supply chain is investing more than 11bn in new and expanded factories.
However, wind installations are falling short to meet EU long-term goals. In 2024 only 13 GW of new wind capacity was connected in the EU. Far below the required 35 GW of new installations per year needed to reach the EU 2030 target of 425 GW.
R&I funding is a key driver to scale-up, industrialise, and accelerate wind installations. The EU's public R&I funding must be directed towards automation of manufacturing processes, optimised installation methods, and new fit-for-deployment designs. Alongside with investments in the supply chain and supporting infrastructure such as grids and ports. The current EU approach to wind energy R&I funding is falling short here. The EU lacks the right R&I policies and tools to translate its academic excellence and wind-specific innovation potential into industrial competitiveness.
ETIPWind has identified five shortcomings:
- The EU is not spending enough on R&I for wind energy.
- EU funding for wind is too fragmented.
- EU funding for wind lacks focus and direction.
- EU funding for wind is overly bureaucratic.
- The EU's supportive financial ecosystem is underdeveloped.
In this new report, the ETIPWind presents its recommendations to overcome these challenges and improve the EU's public R&I funding for wind energy so that the European wind industry can remain competitive and help ensure clean technology sovereignty and energy security in Europe.
Foremost the wind energy sector calls on the EU to establish a European Fund for Wind Research & Competitiveness as part of the next EU budget (2028-2034). The Fund must be a technology-specific one-stop-shop that centralises EU funding for wind energy R&I, from basic research to large-scale deployment.
The European Fund for Wind Research & Competitiveness must come with increased EU and national wind energy R&I funding of at least 600m a year. And with a strict simplification of the administrative requirements associated with public R&I funding. It must implement the common strategy for wind research and competitiveness defined in this latest report.
The ETIPWind Chair, Adrian Timbus (Vice-President Portfolio and Market strategy, Hitachi Energy), said: "This report shows wind energy can become the pillar of Europe's industrial competitiveness and energy security agenda. There is great consensus between the political will and the industry needs. We need to build on this momentum to ensure wind is a top priority in Europe's industrial strategy and that we invest massively in innovation and industrialisation of wind power solutions. We must strengthen and formalise the collaboration between the wind sector, the European Commission, and the Member States."
ABOUT WINDEUROPE
WindEurope is the voice of the wind industry, actively promoting wind power in Europe and worldwide. We have over 600 members, active in over 50 countries. In addition to wind turbine manufacturers with a leading share of the world wind power market, our membership encompasses component suppliers, research institutes, national wind and renewables associations, developers, contractors, electricity providers, finance and insurance companies, and consultants.
For additional questions, please contact:
Nerea Rodriguez
Project Officer
Nerea.Rodriguez@windeurope.org
