In 2014, wind farms produced nearly 43 percent of the electricity
generated in Denmark. The huge increase over 2013—when the share was an
already impressive 34 percent—occurred in large part because it was the
first full year of operation for the 400-megawatt Anholt wind farm in
the Kattegat Sea, one of the world’s largest offshore wind
installations. In January 2014, Denmark’s wind electricity output was
enough to meet an astonishing 62 percent of its electricity demand.
By
2016, wind will be Denmark’s cheapest source of electricity, according
to a government report, costing half as much as new coal- or natural
gas-fired generation. This is part of a larger energy transition under way:
the falling costs of renewables worldwide—wind and solar in
particular—are positioning them as the energy sources of the
twenty-first century.
Portugal
and Spain both generate at least 20 percent of their electricity from
the wind. In Portugal, the output from wind farms is second only to that
from hydroelectric facilities. Wind generation exceeds coal-fired
electricity by 7 percent and is nearly double what natural gas power
plants send to the grid.
In Spain, nuclear power generation still
holds a slight lead over wind on an annual basis, but wind power did
edge nuclear during the months of January, February, and November in
2014. A harsh law mandating painful cuts to wind farm
incentives—applicable to existing projects as well as new ones—was
enforced beginning in mid-2014, however, throwing the future of Spanish
wind power expansion into doubt.
Another country closing in on 20
percent wind generation is Ireland, where wind farms produced 19 percent
of all electricity in 2014, up from 17 percent the year before. The
tech giant Apple has taken notice of the wind wealth in both Ireland and
Denmark, announcing
in February 2015 plans to build and operate data centers in those
countries powered entirely by renewable energy—mostly inexpensive wind
power—by 2017.
The much larger economies of Germany and the United
Kingdom now exceed 9 percent electricity generation from wind power.
Germany’s massive wind and solar power capacity is allowing the country
to back away from coal even as it phases out nuclear power. Wind farm
output there rose 8 percent in 2014, while that from coal plants fell 6
percent. The difference between wind and coal was even more pronounced
in the United Kingdom, which in 2014 generated 11 percent more
electricity from the wind and 25 percent less from coal than in 2013.
Next
on the wind share list is Romania, at close to 9 percent. This country
is home to one of the world’s largest wind farms, a 600-megawatt
installation owned by Czech utility CEZ. Although recent cutbacks in
renewable energy support have created an uncertain policy environment in
Romania, comments in February 2015 by the country’s energy minister
indicate his desire to restore wind power incentives.
What about
the world’s leading emitters of carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse
gas destabilizing the earth’s climate system? Wind farms in the United
States produce more electricity than those in any other country: 182
terawatt-hours in 2014. This translated into 4.4 percent of annual U.S.
generation. At the state level, Iowa’s 28 percent wind power share tops a
group of nine states in the double digits.
And
in China, the world’s leader in installed wind power capacity with
115,000 megawatts, wind still accounts for less than 3 percent of
electricity generation. Yet China’s wind-generated electricity has more
than doubled since 2011, leaving nuclear power behind. Wind power is now
the country’s third leading electricity source behind coal and
hydropower. Endowed with enough wind potential to power their economies several times over,
China and the United States can certainly achieve or even surpass the
shares of wind-generated electricity seen in Europe. The resource is
there to be harnessed.
http://theenergycollective.com/matt-roney/2226821/europe-keeps-putting-more-wind-grid-denmark-blows-past-40-percent-wind-power-germ