News about Solar, Wind and alternative green power technologies

The construction of new wind power plants in Europe was slightly below the previous year. Construction of coal power plants have howsoever increased according to European Wind Energy Association (EWEA).

In 2010, new wind power plants amounted to an expansion capacity of 9.3 GWs. In 2009, the expansion was 10.5 GW.

Christian Kjaer who is EWEA’s chief executive said that the 10 percent drop in the development of new onshore wind turbines was mainly replaced by a 51 percent expansion in offshore wind farms.

There was a radical growth in onshore wind farms for countries like Poland, Bulgaria and Romania, but yet it didn’t accommodate for the fall in onshore wind farm expansion in Germany, UK and Spain.

EU’s total expansion in wind power capacity amounted to 9,259 MW in 2010. There were 833 MW installed offshore and 8,377 MW onshore. The onshore market experienced a contraction by 13.9 percent in comparison to 2009. However, the offshore market grew steadily to hit a record growth of 51 percent for the same year.

In terms of investment EU wind farms in 2010 amounted to €12.7 billion; onshore wind power sector accounted for €10.1 billion; offshore wind power sector represented €2.6 billion.

Spain was the largest market in terms of annual installation for 2010. Here are some figures:
1. Spain – 1,516 MW
2. Germany – 1,493 MW
3. France – 1,086 MW
4. UK – 962 MW
5. Italy – 948 MW
6. Sweden – 604 MW
7. Romania – 437
8. Poland – 382 MW
9. Belgium 350 MW
10. Portugal 345 MW

Other Facts about Renewable Energy Sector:
1. Wind Energy represented 16.7 percent of the expansion of the renewable energy increase in 2010. – it represent an increase in portion by 31 percent in comparison to 2009

4. EU countries with the widest Wind farm capacity installed are Germany, and subsequently Spain, Italy, France and UK.

2010, was the first year since 2007 that wind power didn’t represent the largest source of energy expansion. Gas installation represented 28 GW of added capacity in 2010. It accounted for 51 percent of total energy expansion.

The distribution of added power in EU for 2010 was as follows:
1. Solar PV installed 12 GW (21.7% of total capacity)
2. Wind energy with 9.3 GW (16.7%)
3. Coal 4,056 MW (7.3%)
4. Biomass – 573 MW (1%)
5. Concentrating Solar Power – 405 MW (0.7%)
6. Large Hydro power – 208 (0.4%)
7. Peat – 200 MW (0.4%)
8. Waste – 149 MW (0.3%)
9. Nuclear 145 MW (0.3%)
10. Small Hydro – 25 MW
11. Geothermal – 25 MW

The largest ever expansion in renewable capacity was added in Europe during 2010. Renewable energy represented 41 percent of added capacity with 22,645 MW. Unfortunately, renewable energy sources didn’t represent the largest contribution in 2010. Gas as a source of energy had a remarkable year.

Since 2000 to 2010 the share of wind power to the total installed power capacity has increased significantly from 2 percent to 9.6 percent. Over the last 15 years EU’s capacity has increased from 814 MW (1995) to 9,259 MW (2010). This represents a yearly growth of 17.6 percent.

In 2010, there were 308 offshore wind turbines. This is an annual increase of 51 percent in the expansion of offshore wind power. In other words, it is a record year for Europe.

The offshore wind power in EU provides enough energy to power 2.9 million average EU households. It is tantamount to what large cities like Brussels and Berlin consumes in total. There are 1,136 offshore wind turbines in the EU region. These turbines do in a typical year generate 11.5 Terawatt Hours of electricity.

According to the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), the 9 largest offshore wind countries:
1. UK – 1,341 MW
2. Denmark – 854 MW
3. Netherlands – 249 MW
4. Belgium – 195 MW
5. Sweden – 164 MW
6. Germany 92 MW
7. Ireland 25 MW
8. Finland 26 MW
9. Norway 2.3 MW

Christian Kjaer, EWEA’s Chief Executive says that the European offshore wind energy market is growing with more than 50 percent. 2010 was a record year. In addition, 29 new offshore wind turbine models were launched in the same year. This clearly shows how the offshore wind sector is growing while equally tackling other hurdles such as climate change and economic problems by creating green jobs.

Twenty-one manufacturers announced the release of 29 new offshore turbine models. In the recent 2 years 33 manufactures have announced 44 new turbine models.

According to the EWEA, the growth for offshore wind is expected to increase even more in 2011 to around 1 or 1.5 GW in comparison to 883 MW in 2010.

There are already ten European Wind Farms in development – they will produce 3,000 MW. They will therefore, more than double the current potential of the offshore wind farms.

There are already 19,000 MW of offshore wind power capacity that has been consented. In other words, if all these wind energy potentials were being exploited than offshore wind power would generate a total of 66.6 Terawatt hours of electricity. This would be sufficient to power 14 of Europe’s largest capitals.

The European wind market was in 2000 dominated by Denmark, Spain and Germany – They accounted for 85 % of Europe’s wind capacity. However, now, 10 years later they represent merely 36 percent of the continents wind potential.

The offshore wind capacity has gradually been increasing. In 2010, 883 MW of new installed wind farm capacity represent a striking year. Fascinatingly, the current representation of the increase in offshore capacity has reached 9.5 percent.

In the European Union 84,074 MW of wind power is installed. In the period 2009 to 2010, a 12.2 percent growth was experienced. Today the list of the largest wind power players (countries) is as follows:

1. Germany
2. Spain
3. France
4. UK
5. Italy
6. Countries with more than 1 GW – Sweden, Denmark, Portugal, Greece, Poland, the Netherlands, Austria and Ireland.

Here is a report from EWEA – EWEA Annual Statistics 2010

Source: Ev -wind