WWEA Press Release: International Energy Agency still underestimates Renewable Energy

Bonn (WWEA) – The International Energy Agency (IEA, www.iea.org) published yesterday the World Energy Outlook 2008 (WEO) in which it describes the global energy situation and predicts future developments. According to the WEO 'Reference Scenario', non-hydro renewable energy will only contribute 4 % to the electricity supply in the year 2030, underlying an assumed average growth rate of only 7,2 %.

Already today wind energy alone provides around 1,5 % of the worldwide power consumption and the average growth rate in the past ten years has been at 30 %. China alone showed growth rates of more than 100 % in the past two years. Independent studies like the Renewable Energy Outlook 2030, recently released by the Energy Watch Group (EWG), have demonstrated that renewable energy can contribute the lion's share of power supply in the mid-term future - more than 60 % is possible by the year 2030, given that the right policies are in place. The EWG scenarios are drawing a much more realistic picture than even the more ambitious WEO's '450 Policy Scenario' because they are based on real renewable energy deployment rates and economics.

Stefan Gsänger, WWEA Secretary General: "Although the IEA report calls for a global energy revolution, it still underestimates the contribution that renewable energy can deliver. We regret that the IEA still does not fully realise the actual dynamics and economics of renewable energy. The new World Energy Outlook may, as a kind of self- fulfilling prophecy, mislead policy makers to make poor decisions by not putting enough focus on renewable energy and thus slowing down the renewable energy deployment rates. Governments around the world should understand that wind and other renewable energy technologies can be implemented immediately, providing practically infinite energy at low cost, without doing harm to climate and the environment and even creating additional jobs in a key industry."