A global fund to “de-risk” clean energy investments in countries with higher interest rates could be one of the most important outcomes of the UN climate summit in Paris, European Parliament member Claude Turmes told the European Wind Energy Association annual conference last week.

While projects in Germany receive 2% to 4% financing, “Turmes said some European countries, such as Greece and Romania, are paying up to four times higher interest rates,” Renewable Energy World reports. His proposed Luxembourg Declaration “proposes de-risking instruments that could reduce the cost for renewable energy projects in certain countries by half,” and has already received support from Romania and Slovenia.

EWEA also heard from International Energy Agency Senior Analyst Cederic Philibert, who foresaw wind, hydro, solar thermal, and solar photovoltaics accounting for 65 to 80% of power generation by 2050 in a low-carbon scenario. He said wind outputs will have to be “as even as possible” to meet the target in the scenario, Delony writes.

“You have machines that are taller, with longer blades, larger swept areas, but the same or only slightly increased electrical capacity,” Philibert said. “That means you get much higher capacity factors, but more importantly, you get more even output over time,” with less requirement for other generation sources to back up intermittent wind resources.