The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) highlighted that the debate on the overall cost of electricity from intermittent renewable energy sources must be completely transparent and the data publicly available. At the same time, Eurostat published that in 2011, energy from renewable sources was estimated to have contributed 13.0% of gross final energy consumption in the EU.

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) stressed that the real overall cost of intermittent renewable energy must be better assessed and revealed. The EESC argues that a sustainable energy system – comprised largely of renewables – is the only long-term solution to the EU energy future but transparency and a more open debate on costs' related issues are essential for paving the way, maintaining the strong support of citizens and preparing the required policy decisions. In June 2012, the European Commission also called for a more coordinated European approach to increase renewable energy trading.

The opinion adopted by the EESC also stressed that the cost issue with its opportunities and problems must become more transparent, thoroughly and quantitatively analysed and openly discussed. It added that transparency about the cost of various energy systems will go a long way towards ensuring that energy decisions consider the real costs of the required complete system.

On the other hand, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union published a report which shows that in 2011, energy from renewable sources was estimated to have contributed 13.0% of gross final energy consumption in the EU, compared with 7.9% in 2004 and 12.1% in 2010. The target for the EU to be reached by 2020 is a share of 20% renewable energy use in gross final energy consumption. Since 2004, the share of renewable energy in final energy consumption grew in all Member States. The largest increases during this period were recorded in Sweden (from 38.3% in 2004 to 46.8% in 2011), Denmark (from 14.9% to 23.1%), Austria (from 22.8% to 30.9%), Germany (from 4.8% to 12.3%) and Estonia (from 18.4% to 25.9%).