Situational analysis of EU renewable energy legislation.

In October 2014, the EU Heads of State and Government agreed to increase the EU’s greenhouse gas reduction target to -40% by 2030. They also agreed to an EU level binding renewable energy target of 27% and 27% energy savings by the same date. Over the next years, the European Commission will have to present legislative and other initiatives to secure the implementation of these targets. The EU renewable energy directive is currently one of the main community level tools to further the planning and deployment of renewable energy in the Member States. Most likely, this directive will have to be reviewed and amended to accommodate the above-mentioned 2030 agreement.

This paper aims to apply a situational analysis tool to help answer the question on how EU renewable energy policy could be reshaped after 2020 as to further enhance renewable energy deployment in the EU and related Member State cooperation. It therefore seeks to assist policy makers with a forthcoming redesign of EU renewable energy policy.

The research identifies “internal” strengths and weaknesses of EU renewable energy legislation and relevant “external” and forward-looking threats and opportunities. The identification of these four elements is based factors, deemed relevant for the deployment of renewable energy and related cooperation between countries.
Once the internal strengths (S) and weaknesses (W) and the external threats (T) and opportunities (O) have been identified, a TOWS Matrix will be constructed. Heinz Weinrich developed the TOWS Matrix Situational Analysis tool in 1982. It aims to identify relationships between internal weaknesses and strengths and external threats and opportunities and is thus a tool that can assist in strategic planning.

The application of the TOWS matrix to EU renewable energy legislation leads to four strategies represented by a list of policy options. One of these four strategies consists of maximising the (use of the) opportunities by maximising the internal strengths. The other combinations lead to strategies that use strengths to minimise threats, minimise weaknesses by taking advantage of opportunities and minimise weaknesses to avoid threats.