North American Windpower: EU Reaches 100 GW Of Cumulative Installed Wind Energy Capacity

EU Reaches 100 GW Of Cumulative Installed Wind Energy Capacity

by NAW Staff on Thursday 27 September 2012

The European Union (EU) has installed 100 GW of cumulative wind power capacity, the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) reports.

It took the European wind energy sector about 20 years to get the first 10 GW of wind power capacity installed, and only 13 years to add 90 GW more. Half of the EU's total installed capacity (50 GW) was installed over the past six years, EWEA adds.

"It would require burning 72 million [metric tons] of coal annually in coal-fired power plants to match Europe's annual wind energy production,” notes Christian Kjaer, CEO of EWEA. “Loading that amount of coal on trains would require 750,000 wagons with a combined length of 11,500 km - the distance from Brussels to Buenos Aires, Argentina.”

"Despite only utilizing a tiny fraction of Europe's vast domestic wind energy resources, wind power is having a substantial impact on Europe's energy security and environment, and benefits us hugely in creating green jobs and technology exports,” he adds.

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