AEE awards its Annual Distinction to Fatih Birol for placing renewable energies in the centre of the global energy agenda

Dr.Birol will travel to Madrid to collect the prize and deliver the opening speech of the 2nd Spanish Wind Power Congress, to be held in Madrid on 28th and 29th June.

Dr.Birol (Ankara, 1958) is considered one of the world's most influential personalities in the energy world. He has spent much of his career in the IEA where, before being appointed to head the organisation, he held positions as chief economist and director of global energy economy. He is the president and founder of the Energy Business Council of the IEA and he has received numerous academic awards for his work.

At a time when wind power is going through serious difficulties in Spain, AEE wants to recognize that a prestigious institution as IEA highlights the importance of the sector in reports and public appearances of its leaders. Shortly before the Climate Summit in Paris last December, Dr.Birol said that "renewables have left the niche and are already a conventional source of energy. 60% of world investment in new power capacity is already going to renewables, but 490 billion dollars of subsidies were granted to fossil fuels in 2014, so it still isn’t a fair competition". In a recent report, IEA predicted that Spain will not reach the European target of covering 20% of total energy consumption with renewable energies by 2020 unless there is a change in regulation that restores investor’s confidence. The IEA has estimated that achieving international climate goals will require that renewables represent at least 34% of global power generation in 2025. “We are on the right track, but we must still accelerate our efforts”, Dr. Birol said.

Other personalities and international institutions that have received AEE’s Annual Award are Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the US President, Barack Obama, or the European Union.

The Spanish Wind Power Congress was born in 2015 with the ambition to become one of the key meeting points of the wind energy sector at a global level and the most important of the Hispanic world. This was achieved last year with the attendance of 300 people and an institutional representation of the highest rank (the inauguration was run by Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete, and general director of Energy of the Spanish Government, Teresa Baquedano), so in 2016 it faces its consolidation. Based on a high-level programme of political and technical conferences, it will bring together a number of leaders from national and international energy sector, as well as politicians and various institutions. Therefore it will be a key meeting for the establishment of relations and business development.

The 2nd Wind Power Congress is sponsored by EDPR, Gamesa, Enel Green Power and Vestas. Acciona sponsors the Sector’s Dinner, to be held also on June 28th.

To see the programme, click here.

The Spanish Wind Energy Association (AEE) is the voice of the wind energy sector in Spain. With almost 200 member companies, it represents 95% of the sector in Spain, promotes the use of wind energy, and defends the interests of the sector.