EU: Poland, Hungary lagging in renewable energy

While the EU as a whole is well on its way to meet it’s renewable energy requirements, Poland may have a harder time achieving this goal. By 2020, countries should be producing 20 percent of their energy from renewable sources, according to the OZE (Renewable Energy) agreement.  A recent European Commission report shows that the average distribution of renewable energy in the EU is 15.3 percent. The majority of EU countries (25 of 28) are set to reach the 20 percent mark, while 19 will probably be able to surpass these goals by 2020. However, it is unclear whether countries such as Hungary and Poland will have the same success. In addition to EU energy goals, each EU member sets its own benchmark; the report indicates that Poland’s domestic goal is 15 percent. In 2012, Poland’s energy sources were 10.9 percent renewable, and 11.3 percent a year later. The drop in demand for electric energy in the past few years has aided several countries in achieving their renewable energy goals.  The Commission’s report points out that compliance with OZE goals will be achieved according to favorable changes in each country’s respective domestic energy demand.