Wind Power

A storm of success

The wind energy industry has boomed in recent years. While worldwide wind power capacity in 1998 totalled little more than 10,000 MW, it already reached some 60,000 MW in 2005, with 235,000 employees worldwide, according to the World Wind Energy Association (WWEA).

Europe

In 2010, WWEA anticipates production rising to 120,000 MW. This is equivalent to 240 coal fired power stations. Germany and Spain continue to lead the way, while France and Portugal - with good national legislation in place - showed the highest growth rates in 2005.

The main reason for this boom is the relative low cost of wind energy. In fact, of all renewable technologies, the costs of wind energy come closest to those of fossil power production. There is, therefore, huge expansion potential worldwide.

The Americas

The United States added 2,424 MW new capacity in 2005. Canada almost doubled its capacity to 683 MW. In Latin America, companies have started to show interest, mainly in Brazil and Argentina.

Asia-Pacific

Asia and the Pacific was the most dynamic region for wind energy in 2005, with total capacity now at 7,000 MW. India and China are the leading forces, with India now ranked number 4 in the world in both installed capacity and capacity growth. China has increased its growth and is ranked number 6 in new installations. Amongst the largest producers of wind energy installations is an Indian company which has now established a strong foothold in European and US markets. The Chinese manufacturing industry in wind energy is developing fast, and an increasing share of wind turbines installed are produced domestically. The Philippines saw its first wind power plant installed in 2005. Growth in Australia is sustained but still smaller. And Pakistan is planning its first wind farm.

Cost

Thanks to technological progress, the specific power production costs of wind energy have already been cut in half since 1990. It is expected that the gap between the power production costs of wind energy and those of fossil energy sources will continue to narrow.

Huge potential

The global wind energy potential is huge. The theoretical onshore potential alone, in sites with a mean wind speed of at least 5 m/s at 10 metres height, totals a good 500,000 TWh/a electricity/year. This is 35 times the entire electricity consumption of the world today.

Wind power and nature conservation

Even though the construction and operation of wind turbines does have an impact on the natural environment - for instance through its visual appearance in the landscape, or some bird kill by turning rotors - WWF argues that these impacts need to be seen in and the context of the massive environmental damage caused by the use of conventional energy sources.

Throughout its service life, a single 1.5 MW wind turbine can save about 80,000 tonnes of brown coal. That corresponds to 2,000 40-tonne trucks, or to a coal pile covering a football pitch and rising almost as high as the wind turbine.