Promoting renewable energies - RETS Project

Offshore: Offshore wind velocities are higher and more
predictable than onshore. Moreover they do not attract
the same level of visual/acoustic impact complaint as
land based developments. Focusing on locations of up to
30km offshore and water depths of up to 40m, there is a
huge potential wind energy resource for electricity
production in the seas around the EU coastline (>3000
TWh/annum,~5% of global wind resource).
Employment, market development and generating
capacity
The total cumulative installed capacity for wind energy
(2010) across Europe was reported as being
approximately 85,000 MW peak with leaders being
Germany, Spain, Italy, France and Italy. Annual wind
sourced electricity production was approximately
149 TWh across the region with Spain, Germany, the UK,
France and Portugal leading the league of generators.
It is estimated that employment linked with the
manufacture and deployment of this technology across
the EU is in excess of 250,000. The European wind
employment league is topped by Germany followed by
Spain, Italy and Denmark.
The market is valued to be around €29,000 million.
Research, development and demonstration in the EU
Generating electricity from the wind was first
demonstrated in the 19th century. However wind turbines
are still a high-tech product requiring a critical
understanding of meteorology, aerodynamics, stress and
mechanical vibration, electronic control, transient power
production and grid integration. Co-operation between
universities, manufacturers, financial institutions and end
–users is co-ordinated by the European wind energy
association (EWEA) and other bodies.
EWEA state ‘the key areas for current wind
energy research are:
Improving the design and layout of wind farms;
Increasing the reliability, accessibility and
efficiency of wind turbines;
Optimising the maintenance, assembly and
installation of offshore turbines and their
substructures;
Demonstrating large wind turbine prototypes and
large, interconnected offshore wind farms;
New methods of grid management to allow high
levels of wind power in the system;
Expansion of education schemes and better
training facilities.’
The European commission 2009 communication
‘Investing in the development of low carbon technologies’
proposes investing 6 billion euro of private and public
funds in wind power research between 2010 and 2020.
RETS Compendium – © 2012 RETS Consortium
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