Jun 17 2010
The EWEA (European Wind Energy Association) has announced its predictions for installations of wind power in 2010.
For the year 2010, the association expects new wind power installations of 10 GW in capacity in the EU, thus taking the overall installed capacity to about 85 GW by the close of 2010, a 13% increase. The year 2009 was a record of sorts, since it saw the installation of new wind power amounting to 10.163 GW, representing 39% of all novel energy capacity that were installed in the EU in 2009.
The CEO of EWEA Christian Kjaer said that the company predicts yet another strong year in Europe for wind turbine installations as a result of strong investor confidence shown in this technology. He also added that wind energy will vie for the top position alongside novel gas power plants. This year will also witness more offshore wind power installations, with about 1 GW of novel capacity likely to be installed in 2010, comparing to the 577-MW capacity installed in 2009.
The EWEA expects Italy and France to install approximately 1 GW each during 2010. Since installations in Spain are expected to be dull, Romania and Bulgaria will more than compensate by doubling the number of installations. In 2010, Germany is likely to be the biggest market, followed by the United Kingdom.