/WIND TECHNOLOGY
/WIND ENERGY MARKET
Wind Energy Market
Wind energy is the most developed and most competitive of the renewable energies. In 2007, this sector had a worldwide installed capacity of 94,000 MW and an estimated generation value greater than 190 TWh, which is equivalent to year-on-year growth in the region of 27%. If this growth rate is maintained, wind energy will provide for 29% of the world’s electricity requirement in 2030.
The growth of wind energy has been unstoppable in recent years. Installed capacity in 1995 was 4,800 MW, which means that this capacity has increased by 1,500% between then and 2006. In some countries, the share of electricity generated by wind energy is even challenging the share generated from traditional sources. Denmark is a good example. Around 20% of the electricity annually generated in Denmark is from wind sources. In Spain, this renewable source covered more than 10% of the electricity demand in 2007, and it is forecast that this percentage shall increase to 15% by 2010. In Portugal, wind energy supplied around 8% of total electricity consumption in 2007.
According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), the cost of generating electricity from wind sources has fallen by more than 80% in the last 20 years. The current cost of generating electricity from wind sources is competitive with generation costs from traditional sources.
Wind energy is operational in more than 60 countries today and despite the fact that this industry was mainly concentrated in the European Union up to 2007 (43% of the world’s installed capacity), that tendency is now being reversed. The USA and Canada are taking a greater market share and new markets are opening in Asia (mainly in India but also in China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines) and South America.
The world leader in installed capacity in 2007 was Germany, with a total of 22,247 MW. Germany was followed by the USA (above 16,800 MW), Spain (above 15,100 MW), India (above 8,000 MW) and Denmark (above 3,125 MW). Nonetheless, Denmark is the undisputable leader in terms of harnessing wind energy for supplying electricity to its population. The wind energy potential in other EU countries, such as Portugal, France, UK, Italy, Netherlands and Austria, is also undergoing a fair degree of development. It is also expected that the harnessing of wind energy in countries such as Poland, Hungary and the Baltic States will greatly increase in the near future.
According to Emerging Energy Research (EER), Spain is currently the most attractive market in Europe, due to 5 factors: wind resources, regulatory incentives, licensing, grid connection and competition. Spain overtook Germany at the start of 2008 as the fastest growing market in Europe and it is expected to be a major driving force in development up to 2015. Spain is expected to bring online approximately 20 GW between 2007 and 2015, which is equivalent to 24% of the total additional capacity created in Europe in that timeframe.
The Portuguese wind energy market has grown in a sustained manner since 2001 and it is Europe’s seventh largest market (behind Germany, Spain, Denmark, Italy, France and the UK). The EER estimates that Portugal will add an average of 725 MW per year up to 2015, meaning that it will have achieved an installed capacity of 7,591 MW by the end of 2015, as compared to the 1,716 MW in operation at the end of 2006.
France was the fourth largest wind energy market in Europe at the end of 2007, according to the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA).
Installed capacity in Poland grew by 86 MW in 2006 and 123 MW in 2007, taking the total installed capacity at the end of 2007 to 276 MW. According to the EER, Poland is one of Eastern Europe’s most attractive markets due to the stable regulatory context, the incentive schemes and the existence of wind resources.
The North American wind sector installed more than 5,000 MW in 2007. New wind farms raised the total installed capacity by 44% in one single year, to more than 16,800 MW. In addition to this fact, the US wind energy sector recorded the greatest worldwide growth in total installed capacity in 2005 and 2006.
The world’s wind energy generation potential in 2007 is estimated to have risen to above 190 TWh.