by Mike Fell
17. March 2009 06:30
This year’s European Wind Energy Conference (EWEC) is currently in progress in Marseille, France, and will run until Thursday. It began with a pre-conference seminar on Sunday based around the European Wind Energy Agency’s (EWEA) Wind Energy – The Facts report, published by Earthscan (details here), and continued yesterday with macro-level sessions on policy and markets. Speakers included Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and Mechtild Rothe, Vice President of the European Parliament.
I get the sense that wind is crossing a frontier. Like many renewable energy technologies, the wind industry has been keen to highlight its considerable yearly growth (18% in installed capacity in 2007, for example). The critical response to this has always been that it isn’t hard to obtain high growth rates when you are small – so they are really nothing to brag about. But in 2008, wind accounted for more than 40% of ALL installed electricity generating capacity in the EU, leading gas at 34%, oil at 13% and coal at 4%. This transfer from impressive growth rate to actual capacity is key, and shouldn’t be overlooked by those for whom renewable energy (paradoxically) remains a bit player.
A final thought: there was lots of talk about how carbon dioxide (equivalent) emissions need to be stabilized and begin to fall between 2015 and 2020. Does anyone seriously think this is going to happen (feel free to comment)?
