EREF Press Release
António Sá Da Costa elected as new EREF President
Brussels, 14 May 2018
Antonio Sa Dá Costa was unanimously elected as EREF President for the next two years by members of the European Renewable Energies Federation (EREF).
Dr Sa Dá Costa is President of APREN, the Portuguese Renewable Energy Association and has been Vice-President of EREF since 2004. He was already representing APREN as founding member of EREF 20 years ago. He holds a PhD in Water Resources from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and has a profound background education and experience in renewable energy, having worked as Associated Professor of Hydraulics and Water Resources Technical University of Lisbon and as Consultant engineer for over 40 years, with special focus on studies and projects for small hydropower plants, wind farms and environmental studies.
Upon his appointment, Dr Sa Dá Costa said: “Being elected president of EREF is for me an honour but also a recognition that EREF members see in me a person that could lead the association in the next two years that will be tough due to the negotiation about the new Renewable Energy Directive and the establishment of new rules for the electricity market. Nowadays, no one doubts that renewable electricity, together with energy efficiency, are the best, fastest and cheapest ways to fight climate change, however, we still have a long way to go to reach the objectives defined in the Paris Agreement. With the cooperation of all national associations we at EREF expect from the European Commission, the European Parliament and Governments of EU Member States the help and the commitment to make all these objectives become true up to 2050. The clock is ticking and we have to start to work on it without delays.”
Dr. Dörte Fouquet, Director of EREF highlighted: “The foundation for the European energy system transformation must be built on existing binding commitments of the current EU legislation. We encourage the European Commission to ensure the achievement of the 2020 renewable energy targets and to strive for a high level of ambition for 2030.”
Elected Vice-Presidents are Ghislain Weisrock (FHE, France), Göran Bryntse (SERO, Sweden), Rainer Hinrichs-Rahlwes (BEE, Germany), Savvas Seimanidis (GAREP, Greece) and Stefan Hantsch (IG Windkraft, Austria).
Next to Mr Sa Dá Costa, EREF’s new Board is composed of the following representatives:
- Claudius da Costa Gomez (Fachverband Biogas, Germany)
- Claude Blanc-Coquand (EAF, France)
- Florian Maringer (EEÖ, Austria)
- Ghislain Weisrock (FHE, France)
- Göran Bryntse (SERO, Sweden)
- Morten Victor Petersen (Danish Small Wind Turbine Association, Denmark)
- Nina Skorupska (REA, United Kingdom)
- Paul Ablinger (KWÖ, Austria)
- Rainer Hinrichs-Rahlwes (BEE, Germany)
- Sandra Hook (BWE, Germany)
- Savvas Seimanidis (GAREP, Greece)
- Stefan Hantsch (IG Windkraft, Austria)
- Stepan Chalupa (OZE, Czech Republic)
The General Assembly wholeheartedly thanked the outgoing president Savvas Seimanidis for his strong and dedicated work as president of EREF for four years. Important milestones were achieved under his leadership and helped further strengthening EREF’s role and standing as honest broker for the interest of Independent Power Producers under the Winter Package legislative work in Brussels and in the Member States.
The new Board is determined to continue its efforts to achieve a sound framework for the development of renewable energies and the decarbonisation of the energy sector. Notably, EREF will closely follow the last phase of the adoption of the Clean Energy Package in order to ensure a favourable outcome for renewable energies producers across the EU. In particular, it will strive for a continued specific regime for small scale installations in terms of access to the grid and balancing responsibilities. Amongst other priorities that were discussed on this day, the Board decided that a strong focus will be made on the issues of carbon pricing, repowering and financing of old installations and the end of subsidies to conventional energy sources.
For more information on this matter, please contact
Dr. Dörte Fouquet Dirk Hendricks
EREF Director EREF Senior Policy Advisor
doerte.fouquet@eref-europe.org dirk.hendricks@eref-europe.org