Wind power in the European Union

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Wind power installed in Europe in 2010

In 2011, installed Wind power capacity in the European Union totalled 93,957 megawatts (MW) - enough to supply 6.3% of the EU's electricity. 9,616 MW of wind power was installed in 2011 alone, representing 21.4% of new power capacity. The EU wind industry has had an average annual growth of 15.6% over the last 17 years (1995-2011).^[1]

A European Environment Agency report, entitled Europe's onshore and offshore wind energy potential confirms wind energy could power Europe many times over.^[2] The report highlights wind power’s potential in 2020 as three times greater than Europe’s expected electricity demand, rising to a factor of seven by 2030.^[3]

The EWEA estimates that 230 gigawatts (GW) of wind capacity will be installed in Europe by 2020, consisting of 190 GW onshore and 40 GW offshore. This would produce 14-17% of the EU's electricity, avoiding 333 million tonnes of CO2 per year and saving Europe €28 billion a year in avoided fuel costs.^[4]

Research from a wide variety of sources in various countries shows that support for wind power is consistently between 70 and 80 per cent amongst the general public.^[5]

[edit] By country

[edit] Germany

Erection of an Enercon E70-4 in Germany

Main article: Wind power in Germany

Germany is the world's third largest user of wind power, behind China and the United States, with an installed capacity of 27,214 MW in 2010 and projected capacity of 29,000 MW in 2011^[6] followed by Spain which had an installed capacity of 20,674 MW at the end of 2010.^[7] More than 21,163 wind turbines are located in the German federal area and the country has plans to build more wind turbines.^[8]

Wind power in Germany produces about seven percent of the country's total power. Wind power in Germany provides over 90,000 people with jobs and German wind energy systems are also exported.^[8]

However, the economics of wind power in Germany are under close scrutiny^[9] and other issues deserve consideration. These include the effect of wind turbines on the landscape, the bird population, and the tourist industry.^[8]

[edit] Spain

Main article: Wind power in Spain

Aerial view of a wind farm in Spain

Spain is the leading generator of wind energy in Europe and the second country (after Germany) in installed capacity as of 2011.^[10] Wind power alone covered 16.6% of the total electricity demand in Spain in 2010 (according to Red Eléctrica de España, the Spanish system operator) and continues as the third technology in the system, after nuclear power and combined cycles. Wind energy’s installed capacity could meet the electricity needs of two thirds of Spanish households. In 2010, the electricity sector reduced its CO2 emissions by 26% thanks to wind energy.^[11]^[12] “Spain holds these positions as a result of the establishment of a stable regulatory framework, better understanding of the resource, and improved technology that have afforded considerable cost reduction in terms of initial investment, maintenance, and exploitation”.^[11]

[edit] Denmark

Offshore wind turbines near Copenhagen

Main article: Wind power in Denmark

Wind power in Denmark provides some 20 per cent of Danish domestic electricity^[13] and Denmark is a leading wind power nation in the world. The Danes were pioneers in developing commercial wind power during the 1970s and today almost half of the wind turbines around the world are produced by Danish manufacturers such as Vestas.^[14]

The Danish wind turbine industry is the world’s largest and 90% of the wind turbines manufactured in Denmark are sold to international markets. In 2003, the Danish manufacturers had a total world market share of approximately 38%, generating a combined turnover of almost 3 billion Euro and maintaining over 20,000 people employed in the industry, from wind turbine factories to maintenance and research.^[14]

The development of wind power in Denmark has been characterised by a close collaboration between publicly financed research and industry in key areas such as research and development, certification, testing, and the preparation of standards.^[13]

[edit] United Kingdom

Main article: Wind power in the United Kingdom

Main article: Wind power in Scotland

In February 2011 the installed capacity of wind power in the United Kingdom passed the 5 GW milestone, equivalent to two coal-fired power stations, with the opening of the Braes O'Doune wind farm, near Stirling. The UK is the seventh country in the world to reach this capacity.^[15]

[edit] Romania

Main article: Wind power in Romania

As of 2011, wind power in Romania has an installed capacity of 982 MW, up from the 14.1 MW installed capacity in 2009.^[16] Romania has a high wind power potential of around 14,000 MW and a power generating capacity of 23 TWh. The main regions of great potential of wind are Dobrogea and Moldavia.

[edit] Republic of Ireland

Main article: Wind power in the Republic of Ireland

Vessel in Port Oriel, Clogherhead used in the construction of the offshore Oriel Wind Farm

Ireland is the best location in Europe for wind power as it is situated on the Western edge of Europe and is exposed to high winds from the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea. Wind power capacity factors tend to be higher in Ireland than anywhere else. By the end of 2008 the installed capacity of wind power in Ireland was 1,244.7 MW.^[17]

Most wind farms in Ireland are located in coastal regions and especially in the West of Ireland. However, the Irish Sea is getting some attention and the first offshore wind farm in Ireland is located a few kilometers north of Arklow and 10 km out to sea and is known as the Arklow Bank Wind Park. This is set to expand in the future. Other proposals are an offshore wind farm on the Kish Bank which is about 15 kilometers offshore from Dublin, the capital city. With another planned wind farm at Clogherhead (north of Drogheda, south of Dundalk), to be called the Oriel Wind Farm.The Codling windfarm, planned for the south Irish Sea, will have a capacity of 1100MW with 330 turbines, giving a huge boost to wind generated power in Ireland.

[edit] Lithuania

The Lithuanian government is planning on mimicking Baltic neighbor Denmark, which generates 20 percent of its energy with wind turbines. Lithuanian government have plans to build 200 megawatts of renewable energy by 2010 in wind turbines.^[18]

[edit] Statistics

[edit] Total capacity

EU Wind Energy Capacity (MW)^[19]^[20]^[21]
No	Country	2011	2010	2009	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002	2001	2000	1999	1998
-	EU-27	93,957	84,074	74,767	64,712	56,517	48,069	40,511	34,383	28,599	23,159	17,315	12,887	9,678	6,453
1	Germany	29,060	27,214	25,777	23,897	22,247	20,622	18,415	16,629	14,609	11,994	8,754	6,113	4,442	2,875
2	Spain	21,674	20,676	19,149	16,689	15,131	11,623	10,028	8,264	6,203	4,825	3,337	2,235	1,812	834
3	France	6,800	5,660	4,492	3,404	2,454	1,567	757	390	257	148	93	66	25	19
4	Italy	6.747	5,797	4,850	3,736	2,726	2,123	1,718	1,266	905	788	682	427	277	180
5	UK	6,540	5,204	4,051	2,974	2,406	1,962	1,332	904	667	552	474	406	362	333
6	Portugal	4,083	3,898	3,535	2,862	2,150	1,716	1,022	522	296	195	131	100	61	60
7	Denmark	3,871	3,752	3,465	3,163	3,125	3,136	3,128	3,118	3,116	2,889	2,489	2,417	1,771	1,443
8	Sweden	2,907	2,163	1,560	1,048	788	571	509	442	399	345	293	231	220	174
9	Netherlands	2,328	2,245	2,229	2,225	1,747	1,558	1,219	1,079	910	693	486	446	433	361
10	Ireland	1,631	1,428	1,260	1,027	795	746	496	339	190	137	124	118	74	73
11	Greece	1,629	1,208	1,087	985	871	746	573	473	383	297	272	189	112	39
12	Poland	1,616	1,107	725	544	276	153	83	63	63	27	0	0	0	0
13	Austria	1,084	1,011	995	995	982	965	819	606	415	140	94	77	34	30
14	Belgium	1,078	911	563	415	287	194	167	96	68	35	32	13	6	6
15	Romania	982	462	14	11	8	3	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
16	Bulgaria	612	375	177	120	57	36	10	10	0	0	0	0	0	0
17	Hungary	329	295	201	127	65	61	17	3	3	3	0	0	0	0
18	Czech Republic	217	215	192	150	116	54	28	17	9	3	0	0	0	0
19	Finland	197	197	146	143	110	86	82	82	52	43	39	39	39	17
20	Lithuania	179	163	91	54	54	51	48	6	6	0	0	0	0	0
21	Estonia	184	149	142	78	59	32	32	6	2	2	0	0	0	0
22	Cyprus	134	82	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
23	Luxembourg	44	44	35	35	35	35	35	35	22	17	15	10	10	9
24	Latvia	31	30	28	27	27	27	27	27	27	24	0	0	0	0
25	Slovakia	3	3	3	5	5	5	5	3	0	0	0	0	0
26	Slovenia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
27	Malta	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
-	EU-27 Offshore	3,810	2,944	2,061	1,471	1,088
28	Turkey	1,691	1,329	801	458
29	Norway	520	441	431	429	333	314	267	160	101
30	Croatia	131	89	28
31	Ukraine	151	87	94	90	89	86	77
32	Switzerland	46	42	18	14	12	12	12
33	Russia		9	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
34	Iceland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
-	Europe (MW)	96,607	86,075	76,152	65,741	57,136	48,563	40,898

[edit] Per capita capacity

Wind power today, in an average wind year, generates the equivalent of over 20% of Denmark’s electricity use and 25–30% of that in three German Länder, and on windy days with light loads, over 100% of the load in certain regions, particularly in West Denmark, North Germany, and northern Spain.^[22]

Wind power % of electricity and per person^[23]^[24]^[25]^[26]
	2007		2008	2009	2010
Country	% electricity	W/person	W/person	W/person	W/person
Denmark	21.3	579	581	627.5	686.6
Spain	11.8	367	370	415.5	449.6
Portugal	9.3	203	270	332.5	366.4
Germany	7.0	270	291	315.3	332.7
Ireland	8.4	193	228	283.1	319.6
Sweden	1.3	88	111	166.9	231.6
Average	3.8	116	131	149.2	168.3
Netherlands	3.4	107	136	134.0	135.4
Austria	3.3	120	119	118.8	120.7
Estonia	1.8	45	58	111.3	111.0
Greece	3.7	78	88	96.1	106.9
Cyprus	0	0	0	0	102.1
Italy	1.7	47	63	80.3	96.1
France	1.2	40	53	69.9	87.5
Luxembourg	1.1	71	90	86.2	86.2
United Kingdom	1.8	40	54	65.3	83.9
Belgium	0.7	28	36	52.0	81.9
Bulgaria	0.5	10	21	23.4	49.6
Lithuania	1.1	15	19	27.3	46.3
Finland	0.3	21	27	27.3	36.8
Poland	0.4	7	12	18.5	31.0
Hungary	0.4	6	12	20.1	29.3
Czech Republic	0.4	11	14	18.4	20.5
Romania	0.0	0	1	1	19.5
Latvia	0.9	12	12	12.5	13.8
Slovenia	0.0	1	1	1	0.9