EDF, Dong Energy Boost Europe’s Wind Power to 100 Gigawatts

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-27/edf-dong-energy-help-boost-europe-s-wind-power-to-100-gigawatts.html

The European Union has reached 100 gigawatts of installed wind-energy capacity, equivalent to the output of 62 coal-fired power stations, the European Wind Energy Association said.

After the 27-nation bloc took two decades to reach 10 gigawatts, it’s taken just 13 years to add a further 90 gigawatts, the EWEA said today in an e-mailed statement. New projects from Denmark to Greece by developers including Dong Energy A/S and EDF Energies Nouvelles contributed to the total.

The EU, which has a target to cut carbon-dioxide emissions by 20 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, is expanding clean- energy projects from wind to solar to replace aging coal plants and reduce reliance on fossil-fuel imports. Growth has been subsidized by government incentives including above-market rates paid to generators of renewable power.

“It would require burning 72 million tons of coal annually in coal-fired power plants to match Europe’s annual wind-energy production,” EWEA Chief Executive Officer Christian Kjaer said in the statement. “Loading that amount of coal on trains would require 750,000 wagons with a combined length of 11,500 kilometers (7,150 miles) -- the distance from Brussels to Buenos Aires.”