WIND ENERGY

The European Union continues to be the most advanced region of the world for wind power development. An additional 5154 MW were installed in the fifteen countries of the European Union in 2003, bringing total capacity up to 28452 MW. Nevertheless, this growth is lower than that for 2002 during which 6049 MW were newly installed (see table 1).

Despite a significant decrease in its installation rate, Germany remained the leading European market in 2003.According to the German Wind Energy Institute (DEWI), 2644 MW were installed during 2003 (vs. 3240 in 2002) bringing total capacity up to 14609 MW (including a 30 MW re-powering)

Thanks to development of offshore installations and its policy favoring replacement of wind turbines that are more than 10 years old (and thus of low capacity), Denmark has confirmed the re-launch of wind power sector activity that begun in 2002. According to the Danish Wind Power Industrialists Association, an additional 210 MW were installed in 2003 bringing total Danish wind power capacity up to 3099 MW. Denmark has moreover confirmed its status of leader in terms of offshore wind power with the start up of three new offshore wind parks in 2003:Rodsand/Nysted (158 MW), Samso (23 MW) and Frederikshaven (10.6 MW).Among the other European countries, we can note the confirmed dynamism shown by Italy (904 MW), the Netherlands (910 MW) and above all Austria which practically tripled (+ 198.6%) the capacity of its wind power installations by adding 276 MW in 2003. This result is a direct consequence of the law on green electricity (Ökostromgesetz) that became effective on January 1st 2003.This law set the federal-level wind power purchase price at 0.078 euro/kWh, to which regional assistance can be added as well.

Source: http://europa.eu.int