October 14, 2020
18:18
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Flanders is not meeting its renewable energy target. To avoid a European fine, the government buys green electricity for 22.5 million euros from Denmark on paper.
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The Flemish government has concluded an agreement to buy part of the Danish surplus of green electricity on paper. With this transfer, Flemish Minister of Energy Zuhal Demir (N-VA) wants to avoid a fine for it failure to meet the European targets for renewable energy.
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This confirms that we as Flanders must be careful with formulating unattainable objectives.
Zuhal Demir
Flemish Minister of Energy
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By the end of this year, at least 13 percent of Belgian – and indirectly Flemish – production had to consist of renewable energy. But according to the latest forecasts of the Flemish Energy Agency, Flanders is clocking in at a shortage of 1.8 terawatt hours (TWh), the equivalent of several hundred onshore wind turbines. In order to avoid that failure to meet the target leads to a European fine, Flanders will purchase rights from Denmark for 22.5 million euros. Thanks to the many wind turbines, that country exceeds its target with a surplus of renewable energy production.
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This is a so-called ‘statistical transfer’ without the effective exchange of energy. ‘I would rather have invested this amount of 22.5 million euros in Flanders, especially because it concerns the settlement of commitments made without me in the past,’ says Demir. ‘This confirms that we as Flanders must be careful when formulating unattainable objectives.’
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Initially there was also talk that Flanders would buy renewable energy statistics from Wallonia, but the Walloon surplus is smaller than expected and is probably used to make up for Belgium’s federal deficit. If the final Flemish deficit is higher, there is an option to buy additional rights from Denmark.
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CO2 targets
In the buildings, transport, agriculture and small industry sectors, Flanders may not exceed 352 megatonnes of CO between 2013 and 20202 expel. It seems that those permitted emissions will be exceeded by 1.3 percent. The strong one decrease in road traffic due to the corona crisis has even helped, otherwise the shortage would have been even higher. Demir warns that CO2emission allowances will have to be bought from countries such as Bulgaria, Romania and Poland, which have a lower target. With the 22.5 million euros in Denmark, not all targets have therefore been bought off.
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