(08 July 2014) – A report published today by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) reveals that improvements are needed if EU funding is to make the maximum possible contribution to achieving the 2020 renewable energy target.
This special report (No 6/2014) entitled “Cohesion policy funds support to renewable energy generation – has it achieved good results?” assessed whether good results had been achieved by the two most important funding sources among EU spending programmes for promoting renewable energy – the European Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund (Cohesion policy funds).
The ECA found that the audited projects delivered outputs as planned. Most of them were sufficiently mature and ready for implementation when selected. There were no significant cost overruns or time delays in the projects, and the renewable energy generation capacities were installed as planned and operational.
However, the energy production results were not always achieved or not properly measured. The overall value for money of Cohesion policy funds support to renewable energy generation projects has been limited in helping achieve the EU 2020 renewable energy target, because: cost-effectiveness has not been the guiding principle in planning and implementing the renewable energy generation projects; and cohesion policy funds had a limited EU added value.