By Martin Banks - 4th August 2011
This success is mainly driven by a strong EU regulatory framework to 2020
EWEA
A new report predicts that wind power in the EU will triple by the end of this decade.
The forecast comes in a report by the Brussels-based European wind energy association (EWEA).
It looks at onshore and offshore wind power deployment in the EU ahead of the commission's energy roadmap 2050, due to be published later this year.
Justin Wilkes, policy director of EWEA, said, "Wind energy will more than triple its power output by 2020 with €194bn invested in European onshore and offshore wind farms in this decade."
Wilkes said, "This success is mainly driven by a strong EU regulatory framework to 2020, which we need also after 2020".
"Wind power will not only make a very substantial contribution to meeting Europe's commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"It strongly accelerates a shift away from expensive fossil fuels, creates jobs, makes Europe more competitive, and provides secure and renewable power production in Europe", said Wilkes.
The EWEA report says that electricity production from wind power is expected to increase so that it will provide 5.5 per cent of total EU demand in 2010.
The report, published on Wednesday, says this will rise to 15.7 per cent of the total demand in 2020.
By 2020, the electricity production from wind energy will be equivalent to the total electricity consumption of all households in France, Germany, Poland, Spain and the UK together, it says.
By 2030, some 28 per cent of total demand will be produced by wind power.
EWEA's "Pure Power" report shows that member states will have very different increases in wind power capacity over the coming years.
It ranges from just 10 per cent in Belgium and Austria, to 38 per cent in Denmark.
The figures for the UK, France and Germany are 19 per cent, 11 per cent and 17 per cent respectively.
