New generation capacity in the EU: wind in number one

Trend change or coincidence?

In 2008, wind energy was the preferred technology for new generation capacity in the EU. According to the Planet 2025 NewsNetwork, 43% of all the new power capacity commissioned in the EU last year was wind power. This compares to 35% for natural gas, 13% for oil, 4% for coal, and 2% hydroelectric power.

After years of natural gas dominance, this sounds like a real trend change. Has the era of renewable energy begun? That may be, but nevertheless, a few observations are in order.

Firstly, one has to wonder whether this surge in wind power construction is caused by a particularly weak year for conventional power plants, rather than by the attraction of the wind power sector itself.

Secondly, the EU presently has approximately 160,000 individuals directly and indirectly employed in the manufacture and installation of wind power. More than €10 billion a year is being invested to install more than 8,000 MW of new capacity each year. Yet despite this extensive building activity, wind still does not produce much more than 4% of the EU’s electricity demands.

This shows again just how massive the electricity generation system actually is. Despite the seemingly huge effort on the part of its proponents, the share of wind energy in the European energy mix still seems to grow at a snail’s pace. The European and North American electricity systems — built up over several decades — are so enormous, that they have a huge inertia when faced with change. This inertia is something to keep at the back of our mind when conceiving the energy systems of the future; wrong choices can last out long.