In December 2008, the European Parliament and the Council agreed on the Directive for the promotion of the use of energy from renewable energy sources, which then entered into force in June 2009. The Directive lays out the legislative framework for implementing the binding 20% Renewable Energy Sources (RES) target and stipulates binding targets for each Member State (MS) for 2020, with concrete measures in the electricity, heating and cooling and biofuels sectors.

The core objective of the RE-SHAPING project is to assist Member State (MS) governments in preparing for the implementation of the RES Directive and to shape a European policy for RES in the medium to long term. The past and present success of renewable energy policies will be evaluated and recommendations derived on how to improve future RES support schemes.

The main target groups of the RE-SHAPING project are European, national and regional policy makers in the field of renewable energies, regulators, DSOs / TSOs as well as national industry associations.

The analysis conducted in the project is based on a comprehensive database of the current policies, deployment and costs of renewable energies in EU MS. Existing indicators measuring the effectiveness and efficiency of national instruments are updated and significantly extended to include information on the market status in each MS, on RES in the electricity, heat and transport sectors, on the costs for grid and system services and on the risks associated with RES investments.

Best practice policies will be derived and innovative instruments will be proposed to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of instruments and to improve the compatibility of RES policies with the internal market, emission trading and innovation policy. Options for flexibility among MS will be analysed in detail. The future deployment of RES in each MS will be calculated based on the Green-X model to assist MS in implementing national action plans and to support a long-term vision of European RES policy. The latter will be based on an in-depth analysis of the long-term RES potentials and costs. The impact of policies on the risks for RES financing will be analysed and improved policies and financing instruments will be proposed.