Wind power blowing harder

GLOBAL WIND ELECTRICITY-GENERATING capacity rose 24% in 2005 to 59,100 megawatts. This represents a twelvefold increase from a decade ago. Wind is the world's fastest growing energy source, with an average annual growth rate of 29% percent over the last 10 years. In contrast, over the same time period, coal and natural gas use edged up 2.5% per year, nuclear power by 1.8%, and oil by 1.7%.

Europe continues to lead the world in total installed capacity, with more than 40,500 megawatts, or two-thirds of the global total. These wind installations supply nearly three percent of Europe's electricity and produce enough power to meet the needs of more than 40,000,000 people. The European Wind Energy Association has set a target to satisfy 23% of European electricity needs with wind by 2030. EWEA also notes that Europe has enough wind resources to meet the electricity demands of all of its countries.

Germany, the nation with the most installed wind-generating capacity, now gets six percent of its electricity from its 18,400 megawatts of wind power. Spain, in second place with over 10,000 megawatts of capacity, gets eight percent of its electricity from wind. Denmark's 3,100 megawatts of wind capacity meet 20% of its electricity needs, the largest share in any country. It ranks fifth in the world in installed capacity. Denmark also is the global leader in offshore wind power installations, with 400 megawatts of existing capacity. Globally, more than 900 megawatts of offshore wind capacity will be installed by the end of 2006--all in Europe.

The U.S. has installed 9,100 megawatts of wind power capacity. America's wind industry installed a record-breaking 2,400 megawatts of wind power in 2005, up from 370 megawatts in 2004 and 1,700 megawatts in 2003. This inconsistent growth mostly is due to the intermittent availability of the Federal wind production tax credit (PTC) that currently stands at 1.9 cents per kilowatt-hour. In mid 2005, Congress extended the PTC by two years, marking the first time lawmakers did so without first allowing the credit to lapse. With the PTC guaranteed, the U.S. wind industry projects that it will install 25% more capacity by the end of this calendar year.

Canada's installed wind capacity of 680 megawatts at the end of 2005 should be at 1,200 megawatts by the conclusion of 2006. While Canada's federal government targets the installation of 4,000 megawatts of wind energy by 2010, its more ambitious provincial governments plan to install a combined 9,200 megawatts by 2015.

Asian countries have installed nearly 7,000 megawatts of wind-generated electricity capacity. India has 4,400 megawatts of capacity, ranking fourth overall. Wind power in China, currently at 1,260 megawatts, is beginning to flourish due to the country's new Renewable Energy Law, which provides tax incentives and subsidies for wind power and targets the development of 30,000 megawatts of wind capacity by 2010. Ambitious as these goals are, experts within the Chinese wind industry report that the country could produce 400,000 megawatts of wind capacity by 2050. For comparison, China's total electric power generation capacity at the end of 2003 was 356,100 megawatts.

While three-quarters of all wind power has been installed in only five countries, wind power in the rest of the world has grown by an average of 35% annually over the past 10 years. Australia's wind capacity almost doubled in 2005 to 710 megawatts. It leads the nations of the Pacific region, which, as a whole, have developed 890 megawatts. Latin America and the Caribbean have installed 210 megawatts of capacity. North African countries also are beginning to develop wind power and have installed 310 megawatts. Egypt and Morocco have installed 150 and 60 megawatts, respectively.

Overall, the cost of wind power has decreased by nearly 90% since the 1980s--to four cents or less per kilowatt-hour in prime wind sites. In some markets, wind-generated electricity is cheaper than electricity from conventional sources. The cost has fallen due to advances in technology, declines in the price of financing wind projects, and the economies of scale of turbine and component manufacturing and construction.

Modern turbines are taller and have longer rotor blades than those of 20 years ago, allowing them to produce up to 200 times more power. Since the "fuel" for wind power is unlimited and free, 75-90% of the costs of generating electricity with wind lie in manufacturing and constructing turbines and connecting them to the grid. Once they are installed, the remaining expenses primarily are operation and maintenance, land-use royalties, and property taxes.

In the U.S. and around the world, energy markets are heavily regulated. Some 48 countries have laws in place that favor the growth of renewable energy. Examples include renewable portfolio standards that set a minimum for renewable energy purchases and tax incentives, such as the U.S.'s PTC. However, decades of political and financial support for fossil fuel industries often undermine the competitiveness of wind energy. If environmental, social, and human-health costs were reflected in the economics of electricity generation, wind energy would become even less costly compared to energy derived from fossil fuels. Unlike conventional power plants, wind electrical generation does not release greenhouse gases that warm the climate or other polluting emissions.