Wind power to lead renewable energy technologies in 2020, says report

19 July 2010

Wind power is expected to dwarf all other renewable energy technologies in Europe by 2020, with more estimated installed capacity than hydropower and solar put together, new figures show.

Wind power is set to be the leading renewable energy technology across the European Union over the next decade, according to an ENDS Europe analysis.

In 2020, with estimated wind power generation of more than 100,000 GWh, Germany is expected to lead Spain and the UK, both of which are expected to produce around 78,000 GWh.

Wind power growth in the UK, strongly reliant on offshore generation, is expected to reach an installed capacity of nearly 13,000MW by 2020 from 1,390MW today, the report said.

The Netherlands and Poland, with similarly ambitious wind energy growth plans, are expected to rise from 4,470 GWh and 1,911 GWh respectively at present to an estimated 32,408 GWh and 13,541 GWh in 2020.

Denmark, currently generating 8,606 Gwh of wind power, will produce 11,713GWh of electricity from wind in 2020, falling behind to several faster growing EU countries, it said.

Solar, biomass and hydropower are expected to be the other top sources of renewable energy for electricity in 2020.

Germany is the likely leader for both solar (41,389 Gwh) and biomass (49,457Gwh), the report said.

Italy and Spain are expected to join Germany for the top three European producers of solar power, which is expected to grow at a faster rate than any other technology in the next ten years.

Hydroelectric power, currently the largest renewable energy source in Europe, will continue to be a major source, especially in Sweden, Italy and Spain, which expect to generate 68,000 Gwh, 42,000 Gwh and 39,593 GWh in 2020, respectively.

In the heating and cooling sector, biomass is to be the largest source of renewable energy, while biodiesel will be the main source of renewable fuels, the report said.

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Tags: Europe, wind

This story was published on Monday, July 19th, 2010 at 11:23 am and is filed under Europe, companies, wind. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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