page_title: Mandatory renewable energy target
section_title: Overview
hierarchical_section_title: Mandatory renewable energy target / Overview
caption_attribution_description: English: Wind turbines in a rapeseed field in Sandesneben, Germany. Español: Aerogeneradores en una plantación de colza en Sandesneben, Alemania. En esta foto pueden visualizarse las tres principales fuentes de energías renovables: viento, Sol, y biomasa.Alternative Energies
context_page_description: Mandatory renewable energy targets are part of government legislated schemes which require electricity retailers to source specific proportions of total electricity sales from renewable energy sources according to a fixed time frame. The purpose of these schemes is to promote renewable energy and reduce dependency on fossil fuels. If this results in an additional cost of electricity, the additional cost is distributed across most customers by increases in other tariffs. The cost of this measure is therefore not funded by government budgets, except for costs of establishing and monitoring the scheme and any audit and enforcement actions. As the cost of renewable energy has become cheaper than other sources, meeting and exceeding a renewable energy target will also reduce the cost of electricity to consumers.
  At least 67 countries have renewable energy policy targets of some type. In Europe, 28 European Union members states and 8 Energy Community Contracting Parties have legally binding renewable energy targets. The EU baseline target is 20% by 2020, while the United States also has a national RET of 20%. Similarly, Canada has 9 provincial RETs but no national target.
context_section_description: Renewable energy technologies are essential contributors to the energy supply portfolio, as they contribute to world energy security, reduce dependency on fossil fuels, and provide opportunities for mitigating greenhouse gases. The International Energy Agency has defined three generations of renewable energy technologies, reaching back over 100 years:
  First-generation technologies emerged from the industrial revolution at the end of the 19th century and include hydropower, biomass combustion, geothermal power and heat.  These technologies are quite widely used.
  Second-generation technologies include solar heating and cooling, wind power, modern forms of bioenergy, and solar photovoltaics. These are now entering markets as a result of research, development and demonstration (RD&D) investments since the 1980s. Initial investment was prompted by energy security concerns linked to the oil crises  (1973 and 1979) of the 1970s but the enduring appeal of these technologies is due, at least in part, to environmental benefits.
  Third-generation technologies are still under development and include advanced biomass gasification, biorefinery technologies, concentrating solar thermal power, hot-dry-rock geothermal power, and ocean energy.
  First-generation technologies are well established. However, second-generation technologies and third-generation technologies  depend on further promotion by the public sector. The introduction of mandatory renewable energy targets is one important way in which governments can encourage the wider use of renewables.
  Renewable energy targets exist in at least 66 countries around the world, including the 27 European Union countries, 29 U.S. states, and 9 Canadian provinces.  Most targets are for shares of electricity production, primary energy, and/or final energy for a future year.  Most targets aim for the 2010–2012 timeframe, although an increasing number of targets aim for 2020, and there is now an EU-wide target of 20% of final energy by 2020, and a Chinese target of 15% of primary energy by 2020.
caption: The wind, Sun, and biomass are three renewable energy sources
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