On October 7, the European Union released details of its Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan, a plan for the region’s energy research over the next 10 years. The announcement included technology roadmaps for the first six European Industrial Initiatives (EIIs) for wind, solar, electricity energy grids, bioenergy, carbon capture and storage, and nuclear fission. A seventh EII for energy efficiency cities is proposed. It is estimated the R&D and demonstration of low-carbon technologies for these seven areas is estimated to cost €58.5–€71.5 billion ($86.1–$105.2 billion) over a 10-year period. The Bioenergy EII’s goal is for bioenergy make up 14% of EU energy sources by 2020, with up to 30 bioenergy plants in operation by that time. The estimated cost for the Bioenergy EII is €9 billion. The European Commission’s Joint Research Center estimated that 2007 R&D investments in non-nuclear SET Plan priority technologies totaled €2.38 billion, with corporate R&D accounting for 69% of the total and member states representing 24%. For biofuel development, R&D investment was €347 million, with 23 companies contributing 77% of R&D funding and EU member states contributing 19%.

Source: European Commission