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| NEWS |
| 08-02-2006 |
ALL NEWS |
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Europe sets record for wind power installation |
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BRUSSELS, Belgium, February 8, 2006. The installed wind power capacity in Europe increased by 6,183 MW last year, representing an investment of Euro 6 billion. |
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The cumulative wind capacity increased 18% to 40,504 MW at the end of 2005, up from 34,372 MW in 2004, according to latest data from the European Wind Energy Association. The annual growth in the European market last year was 6% from the 5,838 MW installed in 2004, and the growth was achieved despite a combined reduction of 500 MW of turbines in Germany and Spain.
“With the installation of a record 6,183 MW in 2005, wind energy has achieved the European Commission’s 40,000 MW target for 2010, five years ahead of time,” says Arthouros Zervos of EWEA. “This underlines the technology’s ability to deliver fast and vast amounts of clean energy.”
The top five markets for wind energy in Europe last year were Germany (1,808 MW), Spain (1,764 MW), Portugal (500 MW), Italy (452 MW) and Britain (446 MW). Germany and Spain each have cumulative installed capacity of more than 10 GW (18,428 MW and 10,027 MW, respectively) while seven countries have installed more than 1 GW: Denmark (3,122 MW), Italy (1,717 MW), UK (1,353 MW), Netherlands (1,219 MW) and Portugal (1,022 MW), as well as Germany and Spain.
The 40,504 MW of turbines will generate 83 TWh of electricity in an average year, equal to 2.8% of the continent’s electricity consumption.
Over the past decade, cumulative wind capacity in the EU (prior to 2003, data refer to EU-15 members) has increased by an annual average of 32%. In annual installations, the European market has grown by an average 22% over the same period.
“Although there are still many barriers to wind energy development in most EU countries, the figures demonstrate a healthy underlying trend in the market,” explains Zervos. “The sector is gradually becoming less reliant on a few key markets in Europe and that trend is even stronger when we look at the global market for wind energy in 2005, with more countries significantly increasing investments in wind power technology, not least USA and India.”
The white paper published by the European Commission in 1997 set a target of 40,000 GW for wind power in EU-15 by 2010. As of last year, those 15 countries claim to have more than 40,000 MW.
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