Wind Now Europe’s Fastest Growing Energy Source
February 11th, 2009
New information shows more wind power was installed in the EU than any other electricity-generating technology in 2008. The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) says wind power provided 43% of new capacity - or almost 2GW - compared with 35% for gas, 13% for oil, 4% for coal and 2% for hydro power. The US is the world’s number one wind turbine installer. China, whose capacity doubled for the fourth year in a row, is set to reach second place by 2010 - meeting its 2020 target of 30GW 10 years ahead of schedule.
EWEA says, “the figures show wind energy is the undisputed number one choice in Europe’s efforts to move towards clean, indigenous renewable power.” On each average working day in Europe last year, 20 wind turbines were installed. In a normal year The new wind power capacity, costing Ä11bn should produce 142 TWH (terawatt hours) of electricity or about 4.2% of EU demand and abate 100m tonnes of CO2 a year - equal to taking more than 50m cars off Europe’s roads.
Germany and Spain both installed more than 1.6GW while the UK added 836MW to reach 3.24GW. Ten of the EU’s 27 states have now got wind power capacity of more than 1GW. Global capacity grew by 27GW to reach almost 121GW by the end of 2008. US capacity now totals 25GW, after leaping by a half in 2008, with Germany close behind at 24GW. China, which added 6.3GW, now has 12.2GW of capacity and the country has identified wind energy as a key growth component in its economic stimulus package.
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