Assessment of the renewable energy performance of the European Union countries and European Union candidate countries by data envelopment analysis

In this study, it is examined whether the member and candidate countries of the European Union are effective in terms of renewable energy performance in the time period between 2010-2022. Data envelopment analysis (DEA), which is a parameterless performance measurement model, is used in the study due to the homogeneous structure created by the countries. While the input variables are the number of employees in the energy field, total labor, electricity generation capacity, gross capital formation, renewable energy supply and primary energy consumption, the output variables are GDP, energy share from renewable energy sources, CO2 emissions and SO2 emissions. Using the Super Efficiency Model, one of the DEA models that is the most suitable model for the study, the data were collected using DEA Solver Pro 4.1. It was analyzed with the help of a licensed computer. The thirteen years covered in the study were discussed in two five-year and the last three-year periods in order to evaluate the progress and development towards the European Union energy policy 2020 targets. It was observed that in the five-year periods of 2010-2014 and 2015-2019, the number of active countries was higher than the number of inefficient countries. It was determined that the number of active countries was higher than the number of inactive countries in the 2020-2022 periods. Due to the need to use energy resources efficiently, the relative differences between efficient and ineffective countries are supported by the concept of reference country. Keywords: Data envelopment analysis, super efficiency model, renewable energy.