To say that this has political implications is, perhaps, an understatement. AutoInformed has observed for decades that abstract policy discussions and agreements can become quite contentious when they move toward implementation in one’s backyard – onshore or off the shoreline.

“Although specific requirements vary by country, a rapid acceleration in the annual installation rate of new wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) assets is required,” said McKinsey. The so-called “REPowerEU sets a target of 1236 gigawatts (GW) of renewable capacity by 2030, requiring more than 700 GW of additional RES capacity to be added from 2023 to 2030, a threefold increase in annual installations compared with the RES capacity added from 2014 to 2022 (~230 GW). With REPowerEU targets of 600 GW of installed solar PV capacity and 500 GW of wind capacity by 2030, more than 90% of the targeted additional capacity will need to be supplied by wind and solar,” said McKinsey Executive summary: these require large pieces of habitable land.