Summary Annual Report 2011 - Gamesa

Wind power, a mature and competitive technology
Governments around the world are maintaining their
commitments with regard to wind's contribution to
the energy mix in the medium and long term. those
commitments, coupled with growing demand worldwide,
the need to diversify energy sources so as to reduce
energy dependence, and wind's growing competitiveness,
guarantee double-digit growth in new facilities (10-
20% between 2011 and 2015), according to independent
sources.
according to the studies performed by the united nations
intergovernmental panel on climate change (ipcc),
renewable energies' contribution to the global energy
supply will double by 2050, to 27% (currently 13%).
furthermore, compliance with the agreements reached
at the climate change conference in cancun requires
a much higher contribution, with renewable energies
meeting close to 80% of global energy supply. Within
that percentage, it is generally accepted that wind
energy, given its technological maturity and economic
competitiveness, will play a major role worldwide.
those strengths, together with the ongoing efforts by
wind turbine manufacturers such as Gamesa to improve
competitiveness, suggest that the cost of energy of an
average wind farm will be competitive with coal, gas and
nuclear energy by 2016, according to Bloomberg new
energy finance.
since the 1980s, the price per mW of wind capacity has
declined by 56%, and the cost of maintaining a wind farm
per mWh has fallen by 78% in the same period. moreover,
progress in wind turbine design has improved the power
curve which, together with larger rotors, has increased
load factors by almost 50% to the current average of 34%.
furthermore, the latest capacity auctions in Brazil and
peru show that that wind energy is already competitive
with gas for farms with very high load factors.
therefore, the growing competitiveness of wind energy,
together with governments' commitments to combating
climate change, will offset the current demand shortfall
in mature markets in the long term. in the short term,
lower wind demand in mature markets, such as europe
and the us, is being offset by growth in emerging markets
in asia, latin america and africa. these new markets'
commitment to renewable energies is not based on the
need to slow climate change but, rather, on the need to
combat structural energy deficits or excessive dependence
on a single domestic energy source.
caGr 2011-15e of neW WinD facilities
BTm
GWec
maKe
iea
10%
17%
16%
20%
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