Europe’s Ocean Wind Boom
For European Wind Industry, Offshore Projects Are Booming; As Europe’s wind energy production rises dramatically, offshore turbines are proliferating from the Irish Sea to the Baltic Sea. It’s all part of the European Union’s strong push away from fossil fuels and toward renewables.
Christian Schwagerl, 20 October 2016 (Yale Environment 360)
“…[In Europe, offshore wind farms] are undergoing a boom…Until 2011, between 5 and 10 percent of newly installed wind energy capacity in Europe was offshore. Last year, almost every third new wind turbine went up offshore…[The share of wind energy in the European Union’s electricity supply went] from 2 percent in the year 2000 to 12 percent today…New investments for offshore projects totaled $15.5 billion in the first half of 2016 alone…[and] offshore wind energy capacity will double to 3.7 gigawatts this year…More than 3,300 grid-connected turbines now exist in the North Sea, the Baltic Sea, and the Irish Sea, and 114 new wind turbines were linked to the grid in European waters in the first half of this year…[In the U.S. and Asia, offshore wind] is only just getting started…Newly installed wind energy capacity amounted to 13 gigawatts in 2015, twice as much as newly installed fossil fuel and nuclear capacity combined…The price for a megawatt hour is now between 50 and 96 Euros for onshore wind and 73 to 140 Euros for offshore wind, compared to around 65 to 70 Euros for gas and coal. Electricity generated from onshore wind farms is now the cheapest among newly installed power sources in the U.K. and many other countries. If environmental costs are considered, the picture looks even more favorable for wind power…” click here for more
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