The Financial Times reports that EU efforts to build more renewables are running into problems. As with many other things today, one problem is price inflation for wind and solar components. The EU wants to produce 45% of its energy with renewables by 2030, but the EU is currently building only about half as many new wind and solar farms as it needs to meet its goals. In addition to cost, another obstacle is getting approval for new farms; the applications are usually opposed by environmentalists protecting natural habitats. On the costs side, balsa wood for wind turbines is up 300%. Other components have increased by lesser amounts. As a result, many of the companies that bid on renewable projects a few years ago now cannot meet their price proposals. The EU is also behind in prepairing storage capacity and electric grid integration for the renewables when the sun and wind are not available.
EU Renewables Are Lagging