In energy policy, targets for renewable energies' shares, quotas and
renewable portfolio standards have become very frequent. According to
the
REN21
Global Status Report, 49 countries worldwide have renewable
energy development targets. On the general
level, targets are adopted as orientation marks for policy-makers and as important signals for investors, entrepreneurs
and the public. Political targets to which governments publicly commit
themselves have a strong degree of bindingness, as the public and other countries
will measure the performance. When mandatory market share
policies are applied, targets becoming properly binding objectives.
Unfortunately, the indicators used for specifying the targets, are not
always unequivocally defined. In particular, the targets of renewable
energy shares in the primary energy supply are prone to
misunderstandings, as they involve a number of presumptions as to which
energy services are included and how they are calculated in order to add
them up.
Much less ambiguous are targets for shares in the
relevant markets. In the case of electricity generation, a target which
is at the same time clear and sets the right kind of incentives is a
target for a renewable energy share in electricity production. Equally
clear is a capacity share (though a capacity target does not by itself
assure renewable and clean energy contributions). Similarly, consumption
targets for renewable fuels in the transport sector can be clearly
defined.
As the energy statistics only recently began to
include the
contributions from solar heaters and other decentralised heat generators,
it is difficult to define respective targets. Here, indicators of
installed capacity or square meters are the proxies. Rural renewable
energy is another field that comes with statistical difficulties.
REN21 is currently developing a renewable energy metrics guide
(in
preparation)
which may help to avoid errors and fallacies related to targets and
renewable energy statistics.
