The prospects for wind energy have seldom been better in Europe.

In all EU nations, there is pressure to turbocharge the green transition and to reduce dependency on Russian oil and gas as soon as possible.

So says Chief Executive Officer Giles Dickson form lobby Wind Europe in an interview with MarketWire ahead of the annual convention held from April 5 to April 7 by the organization in Bilbao, Spain.

”There has never been a time like these past five weeks during which we as an industry have experienced such intense pressure from governments to build more wind farms as quickly as possible. That pressure comes from the EU and national governments,” says Giles Dickson.

The signals have been clear from several prominent lawmakers in the EU. Among others, the German Minister of Finance has called renewables ”freedom energy” in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, increasing focus on independence from Russian gas deliveries.

To a large extent, the Bilbao conference will center on energy security and how the wind industry can pave the way for wind farms of unprecedented scale – as quickly as possible.

On March 8, the European Commission unveiled a joint plan – REPowerEU – outlining how Europe can get clear of fossil fuels from Russia well in advance of 2030.

”It’s a clear acknowledgement of the fact that we need to import fewer fossil fuels from Russia – and that imports must be reduced to zero. We need to improve our energy security, and we need to become less reliant on imports of fossil fuels in general,” says Dickson:

”This was EU policy before the current crisis, and it’s an even stronger element of EU policy now.”

The target tallies with plans to accelerate the build-out of renewable energy, installations of heat pumps and electrification of energy systems.

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