Chief Technology Officers from the energy companies ABB, Iberdrola, Vestas, Dong Energy and Siemens presented European Commission Vice President for Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič with a new study on research and innovation –the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) – at the WindEurope Summit 2016 in Hamburg in September.

The report, which was produced by the EU-backed technology platform ETIPWind, details five priorities for R&I in the wind industry. These include grid infrastructure and integration; operation and maintenance; industrialisation for economies of scale and faster production; reducing costs in offshore wind and exploring next generation technologies.

Šefčovič welcomed the timing of the SRIA, as the European Commission plans to release its proposal for a revised post-2020 renewable energy directive and market design proposal before the end of the year. “European Technology and Innovation Platforms play an important role in building the Energy Union bottom-up, making our energy system fit for the future. I therefore welcome the ETIPWind’s Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda which enriches the public debate on how EU policies can transition our society to low-carbon,” he said.

The SRIA report also calls for R&I in Europe to challenge the threat posed by other regions of the world, which are steadily gaining ground on wind power innovation and storage-related investments. ETIPWind Chairman Aidan Cronin warned that Europe was fighting a losing battle to maintain leadership in renewables.

“As competition between technology providers is becoming fiercer in developed markets, high growth markets move to the developing world and European leadership is increasingly challenged, especially by Asian players. They are investing vast sums in wind power and storage related research and Europe needs to meet this challenge,” Cronin writes in the foreword to the report.