Europe’s wind energy trade association has revealed new research showing that the wind farm industry has weathered the financial climate successfully over the last year.
The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) says that 8,600 Megawatts (MW) of new wind energy capacity will be installed in the European Union countries during 2009. Assuming each turbine is rated 2MW capacity this means an additional circa 4,300 wind turbines generating green electricity across Europe.
The installation figure equates to an annual growth rate of 1% when compared to 2008 figures. In 2008 a total of 8,484 MW was installed making wind energy the largest source of new electricity generating capacity in the EU.
The additional wind energy capacity from 2009 will take the EU’s total installed capacity to 73,535 MW, up from 2008’s 64,935 MW.
Christian Kjaer, EWEA Chief Executive said: “I am pleasantly surprised by the research results. They show that the underlying demand for wind energy technology is currently strong enough to make up for project delays caused by many banks’ continued reluctance to provide project finance. Although the outlook for 2009 is encouraging, the real test of the wind energy sector’s ability to withstand the financial crisis will be 2010″.
EWEA say unless serious moves are made to increase liquidity in the financial market, 2010 will be a slow year for the wind energy industry. They believe it is essential that the billions of Euros provided by governments to European banks through stimulus packages make it to wind farm project financing.
Inside the EU, the EWEA reasearch points out a difference between the more established markets in the old EU-15 Member States and the emerging markets of the EU-12. The EU-15 are expected to install a similar number of MW in 2009 to the amount they added in 2008. The EU-12, however, are set to see a bigger increase of approximately 35%
