A survey of delegates at POWER-GEN Europe and its co-located conferences Renewable Energy World Europe and Nuclear Power Europe found that nearly half (48%) believe that the best opportunities for Europe’s power engineering sector will come from outside of Europe in the next five years. 34% felt the best opportunities would arise in power plant modernisation and refurbishment in Western Europe and only 18% have faith in the best opportunities coming from new power plant construction in Western Europe.
The survey was designed to quantify delegates’ views on some of the key issues affecting the industry in 2012. One of the most divisive topics covered at this year’s conference was Germany’s ‘Energiewende’ which caused heated debate at the Joint Plenary Session. Delegates were similarly split. Just over half (52%) of those polled believe that Germany has made the wrong decision to phase out all of its nuclear power generation by 2022, compared to 34% who felt it was the right decision. A further 14% felt it was too early to say.
The survey also asked for opinions on whether the EU will meet its self-imposed target of having renewable resources account for 20% of total energy consumption by 2022. Another topic that divides the industry; 43% expect the EU to meet its target but 38% expect it to fail with a further 19% feeling that it was still too early to tell.
The delegates questioned for the survey consisted primarily of engineers and senior managers representing construction, electric utility and power generation companies, equipment and service suppliers, consultancies, universities and research centres.
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