۱- Introduction

۲- Literature review

۳- Methodology

۴- Data

۵- Results

۶- Conclusions and policy implication

References

Abstract

The study uses the two-stage bias-corrected DEA approach of Simar and Wilson (2007) to assess the efficiency of the EU countries in terms of their wind power investment in 2015. The set of input variables includes installed wind power capacity and average wind power density, while output variables include wind-generated electricity and three additional aspects: environmental, economic and energy security. Next, the study examines the effect of renewable energy policy regarding wind energy, the energy mix, and the offshore wind power utilisation on the wind power efficiency of the analysed countries.
The results obtained reveal that the United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, and Ireland are the most efficient countries in terms of wind power investment. The inclusion of additional aspects demonstrates the greatest improvement of efficiency in Belgium, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Estonia and Germany.
The results seem to indicate that economic instruments used within renewable energy policy have a positive effect on wind power efficiency, while policy support and regulatory instruments might negatively impact. Moreover, the results show that the energy mix explains the variation of the efficiency of the EU countries when their economic and environmental aspects are considered. The analysis of the geographic location indicates that countries with a high share of offshore wind capacity are the most efficient.

Introduction

The rapid development of renewable energy sources in the EU member states results from the common energy policy aimed at improving energy security and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In accordance with the Directive 2009/28/EC, the share of renewable energy in the overall energy consumption in the EU member states should be increased to – on average – 20% by 2020 as part of its efforts to cut carbon dioxide emissions. This target, connected with reducing CO2 emissions by 20%, became part of Europe’s climate policy (EU 2020 Energy Strategy, 2014). The European climate and energy package specifies a national renewable target for each EU member state ranging from 10% in Malta to 49% in Sweden. To meet this target, each EU country, having the choice of renewable energy sources and means of using them in the most effective way, has created its own national renewable energy action plan (for instance, implementing a climate change mitigation strategy linked with decarbonisation of the power sector). On the one hand, the viability of investment in renewable energy sources (especially wind farms and solar parks, which are conducive to decarbonisation of the power sector) to a great extent depends on the supply of a given energy source. The EU countries are highly diversified in terms of their wind potential: countries from northern Europe and the ones neighbouring the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea have much greater wind potential than countries from southern Europe and the centre of the continent.