A new wave of green energy investments throughout Europe, to be propelled by ambitious emission targets set by the European Commission, is on the way, Gerasimos Thomas, a highly ranked DG Energy official, has told a conference in Delphi, central Greece.

European Commission targets aiming for a 30 percent RES share of Europe’s energy mix by 2030 and 50 percent by 2050 are expected to provide the impetus for this wave of investments, the DG Comp official informed.

The RES sector is expected to attract a significant share of private-sector investments in the coming years, while RES auctions have already begun reducing prices, Thomas noted.

New types of investments and investors, including institutional investors and pension funds, as well as related bond market initiatives, can be expected, the DG Energy official told the conference.

In 2017, green energy investments surpassed petroleum and natural gas-related investments for the first time, a trend expected to continue in the years to come, Thomas stated.

Besides the RES production domain, a surge of related investments concerning transmission, industry, networks, digitization and building environmental upgrades, is also expected, he noted.