Offshore wind could supply 17% of EU demand by 2030 The offshore wind industry could produce up to 150 GW and meet 13-17% of EU electricity demand by 2030 - as long as it receives sufficient political support, the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) says in a report launched today. By the same date, EWEA says that the industry will install more than 13 GW and invest €16.5 bn per year. The report, entitled “Oceans of Opportunity” says that there are 100 GW of offshore wind projects being planned at present. | | Windmill Boom Curbs Electric Power Prices for RWE “We’re seeing that wind energy lowers prices, which is great for the consumers,” Kjaer said at his group’s conference in Warsaw this week. “We as producers have to acknowledge that this means operating the existing plant fewer hours a year, and this has an effect on investors” and profit. After years of getting government incentives to install windmills, operators in Europe may have become their own worst enemy, reducing the total price paid for electricity in Germany, Europe’s biggest power market, by as much as 5 billion euros some years, according to a study this week by Poeyry, a Helsinki-based industry consultant. |