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The impact of risks in renewable energy investments and the role of smart policies

One of the aims of the DiaCore project is to improve the conditions for financing RES (renewable energy sources) investments. This DiaCore report is the first to estimate the costs of capital for onshore wind energy projects across the 28 EU Member States. It finds the weighted cost of capital significantly varying. The research was led by Ecofys, Fraunhofer ISI, eclareon, TU WIEN, LEI and EPU-NTUA. It finds that the weighted cost of capital significantly varies across the European Union, amounting to 3.5 percent in Germany and 12 percent in Greece in 2014. The cost of capital is determined by the cost of debt and the cost of equity. In 2014, the cost of equity for onshore wind projects ranged between 6 percent (in Germany) and more than 15 percent in Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovenia. The cost of debt varied between 1.8 percent in Germany and 12.6 percent in Greece.