Germany, UK, Spain and France Top Wind Power Investors Till 2020

Germany, the UK, Spain and France will install the most wind power capacity between 2011 and 2020 in Europe, new statistics show. Up until 2011, 15% of new capacity will be installed in Germany, 14% in the UK, 13% in Spain and 12% in France.

These statistics, contained in the European Wind Energy Association’s Pure Power report, show a more diverse picture than the early days of wind power which saw Denmark, Germany and Spain with a clear wind power lead over the rest of Europe.

In total, wind energy capacity will increase by 146 GW to reach 230 GW by 2020 – up from the current total of 84,324 MW.

Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Greece and Ireland are each expected to account for 3-7% of the increase in power capacity, while Portugal, Belgium, Bulgaria, Romania, Austria, Denmark, Finland and the Czech Republic will each account for 1-3% of the increase.

Today, 25 EU member states have wind power, and by 2020 all member states are likely to have operating wind farms.

To reach these predicted levels – which will bring enough wind power to meet up to 16.5% of the EU’s electricity powering around 140 million homes, and save around 342 million tonnes of CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere – hinges on better and extended electricity grids, and investment in R&D.

EWEA is in the throes of a campaign to call for grid updates and extensions, as well as a single European market for electricity.

[mappress]

Source: ewea, November 16, 2011