IWG Wind members endorse R&I priorities defined by ETIPWind and EERA JP Wind

In summer 2024, a survey was conducted among IWG Wind members to better assess the alignment between EU R&I priorities for wind energy (as defined in the ETIPWind’s Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda and the EERA JP Wind’s research programme) and R&I priorities supported at national level in funding programmes. The survey was filled in by six out of the ten members involved in the IWG Wind (Belgium, Germany, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Türkiye).

The first conclusion of the survey is that IWG Wind members fully endorse the R&I priorities defined by ETIPWind and EERA JP Wind. Out of the 28 R&I priorities identified in the ETIPWind and EERA JP Wind strategic documents, no R&I topic is considered missing according to the IWG Wind members.

The survey also asked IWG Wind members to rate the relevance of each wind R&I area. All R&I areas received a score of at least 70% of relevance, with even 90% for the area focusing on industrialisation and competitiveness, and 95% for the area on optimisation and digitalisation of Operations & Maintenance (see table 1 below). This shows that EU R&I priorities clearly encompass the challenges encountered by the wind industry at national level.

Table 1:

In this survey IWG Wind members also had to classify the 28 R&I priorities in three categories depending on whether they are interested or not to invest and develop R&I projects in these areas (see table 3 at the bottom of the page).

Results show that at least two IWG Wind members are willing to invest in all the R&I priorities mentioned in ETIPWind and EERA JP Wind documents. Two IWG Wind members are willing to invest in almost all the R&I priorities (between 21 and 24 topics out of 28). And two IWG Wind members are ready to invest in approximatively half of the R&I priorities (between 14 and 16 topics out of 28).

The disparities can be explained by the fact that each EU Member State is willing to invest in different R&I topics according to its specific national expertise in wind energy. However, the results also show that a lot of R&I topics are key priorities for the majority of the IWG Wind members. This often leads to overlaps and gaps in the EU and national funding offer for wind R&I, as there’s no real coordination between the EU and national funding programmes.

This is amplified by the fact that most of the national funding programmes are technology neutral. Therefore, almost none of the IWG Wind members were able to provide estimations of R&I investments they could potentially deploy for each priority.

IWG Wind members finally shared their opinion on the key recommendations to support a better implementation of wind R&I activities. The results show that the most relevant solutions for IWG Wind members are to establish a strengthened collaboration between EU Member States, but also to set a European-wide partnership fostering R&I efforts at the EU level (see table 2).

Table 2:

IWG Wind members supporting the recommendation

IWG Wind members who did not answer

According to the IWG Wind members, national R&I priorities are aligned with priorities defined at EU level by ETIPWind and the EERA JP Wind. The SET Plan community on wind energy therefore agrees on a long-term R&I programme and commits to implement it through a common European strategy for wind energy research & competitiveness. Implementing this R&I programme will require the right public funding support. In its Strategic R&I Agenda ETIPWind estimates that €1.8bn of public funding is needed to correctly address the wind R&I priorities between 2025 and 2027. But it will also require more coordination between the SET Plan community stakeholders to ensure EU and national funding for wind R&I is spent in a more strategic way.

Table 3:

IWG Wind members willing to invest

IWG Wind not willing to invest

IWG Wind members who did not answer