The State of Renewables in Europe 2015

For sixteen years now, EurObserv’ER has been collecting data on European Union renewable energy sources to describe the state and thrust of the various sectors in its focus studies or barometers.
This publication provides a complete overview of the twelve renewable sectors (Wind power, Photovoltaic, Solar thermal, Small hydropower, Geothermal energy, Heat pumps, Biogas, Biofuels, Renewable urban waste, Solid biomass, Concentrated solar power, Ocean energy). Their performances are compared against the stated goals set out by each country in its National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP). Additionally, for the sixth year running, the EurObserv’ER consortium members have published their annual renewable energy share estimates of overall final energy consumption for each Member State of the European Union. These figures provide preliminary indication of how the various countries are faring along their renewable energy paths and whether their individual trends point to successful achievement of the targets set by European Directive 2009/28/EC.
According to the report, the countries with the highest amount of renewable energy jobs were Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Spain, with the EU’s smaller countries having the least jobs in the sector.
The report also states that, while the market for photovoltaic energy has flattened in Europe, the sector still had a turnover of €16.4 billion and accounted for 120,000 jobs. Heat pumps and biofuels came in next with turnovers of €13.8 billion and €13.4 billion respectively. Biogas, small hydro, solar thermal and geothermal all had a turnover in the range of €1.3 – 6.1 billion.