Introduction - Wind Energy: Renewable Energy and the Environment - page 10

FIGURE 1.11 Danish wind turbine, Gedser, 200 kW. (Photo from Danish Wind Industry Association. With
permission.)

1.2 WIND FARMS
Wind farms began in California in 1982 as a result of U.S. federal laws and incentives and mandates
on avoided costs set by the California Energy Commission. At end of 2007 the installed capac-
ity in the world was estimated at 95 gigawatts (GW), most of which, 94 GW, was in wind farms
(Figure 1.12), with the major amount being installed in the European Union. The size of turbines

100

Others EU USA

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

83 85 87 89 1 93 95 97 99 01 03 05 07

FIGURE 1.12 World installed capacity of wind turbines, primarily wind farms.