The Structure Of Renewable Energy Sources In Energy Production In The European Union States, With Particular Consideration Of Poland And Croatia

According to the Directive 2009/28/EC dated April 23,2009, the European Union intends to achieve, it is required that 20 percent of the energy consumed within the European Union will be renewable by 2020. The share of energy from renewable sources in transport is to achieve 10 percent at the same time. It is the mandatory minimum target for all Member States. Due to the high diversification of potentials of particular Member States, related to the renewable energy sources (water conditions, wind conditions, sun illumination, resources of biomass and biogases) and initial conditions of the states, the 20 percent share of the entire Community has been recalculated to specify the individual (national) targets. Therefore, following the list of the Member States, Poland is to achieve the 15 percent and Croatia the 20 percent share of energy from the renewable sources in the final gross energy consumption. In order to achieve these targets, Poland (in 2010) and Croatia (in 2013) approved the National Action Plans in the Field of the Renewable Energy Sources. These plans determine the concepts, time schedules and instruments of implementation of the actions assumed by the EU. The objective of the paper is to discuss the descriptive and comparative analysis of the structure of the renewable energy sources in the energy production, in relation to the targets specified by the EU for particular Member States. The detailed analysis will cover the structure of energy mixes of Poland and Croatia, including, first of all, water power, wind energy, sun energy, biomass and biogases.