Wind power has been growing at a pace that rivals that of the solar industry. The worldwide generating capacity of wind turbines has grown more than 25% every year for the past decade, reaching nearly 60,000 MW in early 2006. In Europe, the growth has been phenomenal. In 1994, the total installed wind generated power capacity of the European Union nations was 1700 MW. In 2005, wind generators produce more than 40,000 MW. Germany alone has more than 18,000 MW of wind power capacity, thanks to a politically aggressive system of construction. The northern state of Germany, Schleswig-Holstein, currently provides one quarter of its electrical demand with more than 2400 wind turbines, and in some months wind power provides more than half of the state’s electricity.

Spain has 10,000 MW of wind capacity. Denmark has 3000 MW. Great Britain, the Netherlands, Italy and Portugal each have more than 1000 MW.

In the U.S., the wind power industry has also accelerated dramatically. Power generation capacity due to wind has increased 36% recently. Even though wind turbines produce only 0.5% of the nations electricity, the potential for expansion is really quite large, especially when the Great Plains states are considered. North Dakota, for example, has greater wind power resources than Germany, but only 98 MW of generating capacity is installed there. If the U.S. constructed enough wind farms to fully tap those resources, the turbines could generate as much as 11 trillion kWh of electricity, or nearly 3 times the total amount produced from all energy sources in the nation last year.

The reservations about wind power come partly from utility companies that are reluctant to use the new technology. Although opinions vary on how wind turbines will affect landscape use, everyone agrees that they must be balanced against the social cost of the alternatives. Because our energy needs are growing very quickly, rejecting wind farms will often result in the construction or expansion of fossil fuel burning power plants that have a much more damaging environmental effect.

In other words, it is feasible for Europe to generate three times as much power as it needs by the year 2020.

The study confirmed that wind energy, if so desired, can play a major role in achieving the European energy targets and that there are extensive wind energy resources in Europe. The report, called ”Europe’s Onshore And Offshore Wind Energy Potential”, shows that wind energy potential is massive, and really capable of creating almost 20 times the energy demand in 2020.

Potential inland wind energy locations are concentrated in agricultural and industrial areas in northwestern Europe. In addition, the largest offshore potential can be found in areas in the North Sea, the Baltic seas and the Atlantic Ocean, with even some opportunities in areas of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea’s.

Europeans could put wind generators further offshore, but due to the significantly greater costs it is unlikely that they will go too far offshore. The deep offshore potential is unlikely to contribute in any significant way to the energy mix within the time frame of the study.

Areas of high wind speeds that will best accommodate wind turbines will require major changes to the grid system to accommodate the distribution of all of this newly generated power. Congestion and overloading would otherwise be a problem.

The conclusions were welcomed by the European Wind Energy Association. They said, “The EEA clearly recognizes that wind power will be key to Europe’s energy future. Now that oil prices are again on the rise, the EEA report sends a reminder to Europe’s policy makers that wind power is a clean and proven energy technology and Europe is the world leader.”

Things look promising.

Courtesy of Cascade Engineering

I like this design for a couple of reasons: first, the blades are “enclosed”, so you don’t have to worry about them flying off. Second, the whole package is really light, and light is good.

Product: Swift wind turbine

Cost: $10,000 installed and connected to the grid

Source: swiftwindturbine.com