TODAY’S STUDY: EUROPE’S BIG WIND

Wind in power; 2014 European statistics

February 2015 (European Wind Energy Association)

Executive Summary

2014 annual installations

• 11,791.4 MW of wind power capacity (worth between €13.1bn and €18.7bn) was installed in the EU during 2014, an increase of 3.8% compared to 2013 annual installations. • Wind power is the generating technology with the highest rate for new installations in 2014, accounting for 43.7% of total 2014 power capacity installations, 12 percentage points higher than during the previous year. • Renewable power installations accounted for 79.1% of new installations during 2014: 21.3 GW of a total 26.9 GW of new power capacity, up from 72% the previous year.

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Trends and cumulative installations

•There is now 128.8 GW of installed wind power capacity in the EU: approximately 120.6 GW onshore and just over 8 GW offshore.

• The EU total installed power capacity increased by 14.8 GW net in 2014 to 910.1 GW, with wind power increasing by 11.4 GW net and reaching a share of total installed generation capacity of 14.1%.

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• Since 2000, 29.4% of new capacity installed has been wind power, 56.2% renewables and 91.1% renewables and gas combined.

• The EU power sector continues its move away from fuel oil and coal with both technologies continuing to decommission more than they install.

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Wind power installations

• Annual installations of wind power have increased over the last 14 years, from 3.2 GW in 2000, to 11.8 GW in 2014 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.8%.

• A total of 128.8 GW is now installed in the European Union, an increase in installed cumulative capacity of 9.7% compared to the previous year.

• Germany remains the EU country with the largest installed capacity followed by Spain, the UK and France. There are 15 EU countries with gigawatt-level wind power capacities installed, including two relatively new EU countries (Poland and Romania), and eight EU countries each have more than 4 GW of installed capacity.

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• 59.5% of all new installations in 2014 were in just two countries (Germany and the UK), an increased concentration compared to 2013 (46% of total installations). 77.2% of all new installations were concentrated in the top four countries (Germany, the UK, Sweden and France).

• 2014 shows the negative impact of market, regulatory and political uncertainty sweeping across Europe. Destabilised legislative frameworks for wind energy are undermining investments.

• A number of previously large markets such as Denmark, Spain and Italy saw their rates of wind energy installations decrease significantly in 2014, by 90.4%, 84.3% and 75.4% respectively.

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• Offshore wind saw almost 1.5 GW installed in 2014, 5.3% less than 2013. • The wind power capacity installed by the end of 2014 would, in a normal wind year, produce 284 TWh of electricity, enough to cover 10.2% (of which 1% from offshore wind) of the EU’s electricity consumption – up from 8% the year before.

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