The Future - Wind and Solar Power Systems - page 288

FIGURE 16-5
Denmark's first large offshore wind power sites. (Source: Wind Directions, Magazine of the
European Wind Energy Association, January 1998, London. With permission.)
As of December 1997, Europe's wind capacity by country was shown in
Figure 2-10. Germany and Denmark lead Europe in wind power. Both have
achieved phenomenal wind energy growth through a guaranteed tariff based
on the domestic electricity prices, perhaps a blueprint for the rest of the
world to follow. Germany has a 35-fold increase between 1990 and 1996, a
70 percent annual rate of growth. With 2,000 MW installed, Germany is now
the world leader. The former global leader, the U.S.A., has seen only a small
increase during this period, from 1,500 MW in 1990 to 1,650 MW in 1996.
In 1997, the European Wind Energy Association adopted an ambitious
target of 40,000 MW of wind capacity in Europe by the year 2010 and
100,000 MW by 2020 ( Table 16-3 ) . Each European country would be obligated
to meet its committed share of renewable electricity, including the wind
energy obligation, towards the overall target of 12 percent of the primary
energy by wind in Europe by the year 2010.
In selected countries, the present wind capacity and future targets are listed
in Table 16-4 . The present and future targets for meeting the total electricity
demand by wind capacity are listed in Table 16-5 . Based on these targets, it
is reasonable to expect that the wind may contribute 10 to 25 percent of the
total electricity demand in some countries by 2010.