Europe is recovering lost ground in the Renewable energy country attractiveness index – RECAI – compiled by Ernst & Young, while Greece remained at the 40th place of the index once again, EY said its latest six-month report.
The index is compiled based on a series of factors affecting the outlook of Renewable Energy Sources market, such as: long-term energy needs and how they could be covered by renewable energy sources, how current policies encourage or discourage the development of reneweable energy sources in one country, the existence of basic conditions, such as network infrastructure, long-term contracts and funding, prospects of renewable energy sources technology, a general investment climate, business climate and long-term economic stability.
France rose to the seventh place of the index, supported by a national plan to promote 3GW solar-thermal capacity in the next three years. Belgium (18th), Sweden (20th), Ireland (30th), Norway (32nd) and Finland (35th) also improved their listings in the index, while Germany, the US, China, India and Chile remained at the top five positions of the index.
EY said that European countries have not yet reached the flexibility of emerging markets in transforming their energy industry. Their biggest hurdle is integrating renewable energy sources to the existing electricity production unit system, although a series of new promising investment programs and new technologies currently implemented in Europe could change this situation.
EY said that activity in green bonds in Europe rose, as green bonds worth 54.9 billion US dollar were issued in Europe in the first seven months of 2016, followed by North America with 19.8 billion dollars and Asia with 4.5 billion dollars.
(http://int.ert.gr, 27 December 2016)
