• APPENDIX
• ABREVIATIONS
• GLOSSARY
• REFERENCES
• EVENTS

WIND ENERGY THE FACTS

By the end of 2007, the EU-27 had more than 56 GW of installed wind power capacity, including 1 GW offshore.

During 2007, over 8.5 GW of wind power was installed, including 0.2 GW offshore, which represents more net additional capacity than any other power generating technology:

• €11 billion of investments.
• Electricity production of 119 TWh, including 4TWh offshore.
• Met 3.7% of total European electricity demand.
• Provided power equivalent to the needs of 30 million average households.
• Avoided 91 million tonnes of CO2, equivalent to taking 46 million cars off the road (21 % of the EU car fleet) and equal to 26 % of the EU-15’s Kyoto obligation

Growth and market development:

• With a compound annual growth rate of over 20% in MW installed between 2000 and 2007, wind energy is now a mainstream power source in Europe’s generation mix. Wind power represented 30% of all power capacity installed in the EU in that period.
• Overall, the European wind market is expected to grow at a rate of over 9 GW annually through 2010, which translates into annual investments pushing of €11 billion.
• Europe remains the leading market for wind energy and new installations represented 43% of the global total. European companies supplied 66% of the world’s turbines in 2007.
• According to EWEA’s reference scenario, the EU-27 could see 80 GW of installed capacity in 2010; 180 GW by 2020; and 300 GW by 2030.
• The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) predicts the global market for wind turbines will grow by over 155% from 94 GW in 2007 to reach 240 GW of total installed capacity by 2012.
• Depending on the increase in electricity demand, wind power could cover 11.5 to 12.7% of global electricity demand in 2020, according to GWEC, and as much as 20.2 to 24.9% in 2030.

EU objective for 2020:

• The EU has set a binding target of 20% of its energy supply to come from wind and other renewable resources by 2020.
• To meet this target, more than one-third of European electricity demand will need to come from renewables.
• Wind power is expected to deliver 12 to 14% of the total EU electricity demand in 2020.
• The EU needs to increase by an average of 9.5 GW per year between 2008 and 2020 to supply 12-14% of EUs electricity. In 2007, wind energy capacity in the EU increased by 8.5 GW.

Wind industry target for the EU-27 in 2020:

• 180 GW installed capacity, including 35 GW offshore.
• Annual installations of 16.8 GW, including 6.8 GW offshore.
• Electricity production of 477 TWh, including 133 TWh offshore.
• Meeting between 11.6% and 14.3% of total EU electrical demand.
• Providing power equivalent to the needs of 107 million average EU households.

Benefits of reaching the wind industry’s target in the EU-27 in 2020:

• Avoiding 328 Mt of CO2, equivalent to taking 165 million cars off the road (76% of the EU 2004 car fleet).
• Annual avoided fuel cost of €20.5 billion (assuming fuel prices equivalent to $ 90 a barrel of oil).
• Annual avoided CO2 costs of €8.2 billion ((€25/t CO2).
• Annual investments in wind power capacity of €16.9 billion.
• Total life-time avoided fuel costs of wind power capacity installed in 2011-2020 of €277 billion.
• Total life-time avoided CO2 cost of wind power capacity installed in 2011-2020 of €114 billion.

Technology and research:

• Three-bladed, upwind, variable-speed, pitch-regulated turbines currently dominate the industry.
• Although the onshore wind energy sector has made great improvements, the industry requires more R&D money to fully explore wind conditions, turbine technology, wind energy integration and offshore deployment.
• To comply with the decision made at the Barcelona European Council, the R&D effort of the sector should be at least of 3% of annual turnover.
• Based on a 3% investment, the R&D effort should be an average of €430 million per year. As two-thirds of this budget should be invested by the private sector and one-third by the public sector, the average public annual support should then be €143 million per year. If 50 % of this support is provided by national (Member State) programmes, and 50 % from EC programmes, the average effort both for EC and national programmes should be €72 million per year. The EC’s efforts are now lagging but there are signs that its support will rise to approximately  €40 million next year.

Costs and investments:

• Capital costs of onshore wind projects are dominated by turbine price. An average turbine installed in Europe costs about €1.23 million/MW, including all additional fees for foundations, electrical installation and consultancy (2006 prices).
• Conventional electricity production costs are usually determined by fuel, CO2 emissions, operation and maintenance (O&M), and capital. Implementing wind power avoids the full fuel and CO2 costs, as well as a considerable share of a conventional power plant’s O&M costs.
• There are still many small privately owned wind projects but there is a shift towards bigger, utility-owned projects. This brings new money to the industry and decreases dependence on banks for initial funding.
• Cumulative investments in wind energy over the three decades from 2000 to 2030 will total €390 billion. According to EWEA’s reference scenario, approximately €340 billion will be invested in wind energy in the EU-27 between 2008 and 2030.

Offshore:

• Five countries worldwide – all of them in the EU – had operational offshore wind farms by the end of 2007: Denmark, Sweden, the UK, the Netherlands and Ireland.
• Germany, France and Belgium also have huge potential and started building their first offshore wind farms in 2008.
• There are 1,080 Megawatts (MW) of installed capacity offshore – providing 4 Terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity, enough power for the equivalent of one million average EU households.
• Special vessels and techniques for erecting turbines have been developed. In addition, individual turbine size is significantly larger, and turbines of 5 MW and greater are being aimed at the offshore market.
• EWEA’s reference scenario for offshore development suggests there could be 3.5 GW of offshore wind in the EU in 2010, 35 GW in 2020 and 120 GW in 2030.

Grid integration:

• The large-scale integration of wind power requires a substantial increase in transmission capacity.
• In addition to the construction of new lines, adequate and fair procedures need to be developed to provide grid access to wind power, even where grid capacity is limited.
• A transnational offshore grid would provide access to the huge offshore resource. It would also improve the cross-border power exchange between countries and alleviate congestion on existing interconnectors.