The European Wind Energy Association, which represents the European wind energy industry, said the region is on track to meet the tripling of its installed wind energy capacity by 2020.
Based on wind-generated electricity which was at 84 gigawatts last year, the association reported that most European Union countries will produce a total capacity of 230 GW. Of this, 190 GW would come from onshore projects.
The report highlighted that by 2050, half of E.U.'s electricity will come from wind energy sources, with its wind farms projected to bear a total generated capacity of 400 GW.
The group said about 15.7 percent of overall electricity supply in the E.U. would come from wind projects less than a decade from now.
Denmark is projected to derive 38 percent of its electricity from wind energy, the highest among the E.U.'s 27 countries. Portugal was next with 28 percent, followed by Greece, 23 percent.
The association's chief executive Christian Kjaer said large investments will be made for wind energy within the decade.
"The [association] expects that 194 billion euros will be invested in European onshore and offshore wind farms in this decade, mainly driven by a strong E.U. regulatory framework to 2020," Mr. Kjaer said.
"Annual wind power investments in the E.U. will double from 13 billion euros in 2010 to 27 billion euros in 2020," Mr. Kjaer added.
However, Mr. Kjaer said the E.U. must draft renewable energy targets to stabilize the European wind industry's performance until 2050.
"An early commitment to binding renewable energy targets in 2030 would provide the industry with the necessary stability, and certainty to invest in job creation while sending a strong signal about the future redesign of Europe's electricity infrastructure," Mr. Kjaer ended.
Wind project development is ongoing in the region, like in the United Kingdom where plans to exploit wind energy resources and hydropower more effectively are at hand.
The British government recently signed the All Islands Approach to energy agreement which sought to harness the potential of the two natural energy resources in the country's islands, and enable developers to exploit commercial opportunities for generation and transmission of power derived from renewable sources.
It would also lead to an integration of the energy supply channel around the islands and trading or exports of surplus power to other European countries.
Meanwhile the construction of the 1-gigawatt London Array offshore wind farms first phase is currently being done. Planned for 1 GW, it is the largest planned offshore wind farm in the world. It is expected to generate 630 MW of power upon Phase 1 completion next year.
The project is under Danish energy provider Dong Energy, who owns half of the project, Germany's E.ON Energy, and Masdar, a renewable energy company based in Abu Dhabi. (Angelo Nonato P. Cabrera)
source: apec-vc Korea
