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Does Europe need a renewables target? – yes, but it should be defined in terms of innovation / Georg Zachmann, EU Energy Policy Blog, 8/02/2014http://www.energypolicyblog.com/2014/02/08/does-europe-need-a-renewables-target-yes-but-it-should-be-defined-in-terms-of-innovation/The discussion on whether the EU needs a new renewables target beyond 2020 is gaining traction. The proponents argue that a target for 2030 would give the visibility needed for long-term investments all along the value chain (e.g. into network and storage infrastructure). That is, without a firm political timetable for the roll-out of renewables, the cost of deployment might be much higher. The opponents of firm deployment targets argue that having such targets under an emission trading system is overly costly (e.g., Robert Stavins) and that artificially high demand is creating excess rents in those parts of the value chain where supply is slow to react...