Strategic Choices for Sustainability at EU Regional Level - The Sustainability of Renewable Energy in Europe - page 98

or to not provide sufficient guarantees to investors. Considering the NREAP, the
EU is currently in the middle of the road on its target installations in 2020, corre-
sponding to 213,563 MW including 44,244 MW offshore. For 2012, the European
Wind Energy Association has calculated that the trajectory of the NREAP was
107,602 MW, with a slowdown in installations in 2013. In fact, at the end of 2013,
the installed capacity of wind power was equal to 117.3 GW, of which 110.7 GW
is onshore and 6.6 GW is offshore. The installed capacity of wind power in 2013
has been 11,159 MW, a decrease of 8 % compared to the installations of 2012
(EWEA 2014 ). The situation is very different among EU countries: while some
countries such as France, Spain, Portugal, and Greece are lagging behind in meet-
ing their targets outlined in the NREAP, other countries such as Sweden, Italy,
and Poland drag growth in the EU. Germany, the European leader, is currently in
line with its goals, while the UK begins to stall. The EU is achieving good results
with respect to its goal of installations in 2020 to 213,563 MW from wind power:
installations in 2012 amounted to a level of 107,602 MW. The positive trend of
wind power should be seen in the light of the intensive work of the EU for the
development of a new framework that will help to modernize and expand EU's
energy infrastructure.

4.2.4 Biofuels in EU Countries

In 2012, there has been a slight increase in the consumption of biofuels in the
EU compared to 2011: consumption was around 14.4 Mtoe in 2012 compared to
14 Mtoe in 2011, i.e., an increase of 2.9 %. The growth in 2012 was heterogeneous
among EU countries. In particular, 14 countries have increased their consumption
(e.g., France, Spain, Sweden, and Finland), 10 others (such as the UK, Poland, Hun-
gary, and Italy) have decreased. Others do not have used biofuels in 2012 (Malta,
Estonia, and Romania).
The drop in consumption occurred in some countries is due to two reasons: the
economic crisis, which has led some importing countries to reduce its level of in-
corporation of biofuels, and the uncertainties about the new EU legislation. The
breakdown of the consumption of biofuels has remained essentially the same as in
previous years, with biodiesel representing 79.1 % of total energy consumption in
consumption, far ahead of bioethanol (19.9 %). The pure vegetable oil and biogas
account for 1 % of total consumption. Germany is the country that consumes the
largest amount of biofuels in the transport sector, with a total consumption in 2012
amounted to 3,018,321 toe, of which 73 % is biodiesel and the remaining is bioetha-
nol and to a lesser extent vegetable oil well. The totality of this consumption has
been certified, allowing the country to account for them in order to reach the objec-
tives in the field of RES. Germany then brings the official quota of biofuels on road
to 5.7 % in 2012 compared to 5.5 % in 2011.
France is the first European consumer of biofuels, but in 2012 became the
first consumer of biodiesel. The country has in fact consumed 2,299,800 toe of