Wind farms in Europe enjoy greater public acceptance and creates a larger share of energy. Germany has the biggest wind turbine to be established offshore, and the largest number of wind farms in the world.
Overall national government policies across Europe are also generally in favour of increasing the use of renewable energy sources. The United Kingdom government, for example, has a target for 10% of domestic energy consumption to be generated from renewable sources by the year 2010. A number of on- and off-shore wind farms are currently going through planning permission at the moment. Recently an onshore farm was opened at Cefn Croes in West Wales's Cambrian Mountains. In May 2006, operational wind farms in the UK comprised an installed capacity of 1693 MW, in Portugal 1188 MW [1], in France 918 MW and in the Republic of Ireland 496 MW. The planned 322 MW wind farm south of Glasgow will be the biggest wind farm in Europe. The €350 million farm is ordered by Scottish Power and the 140 wind turbines are to be delivered by Siemens.
On 18th December 2006, the British government gave planning consent for the world's largest offshore wind farm. It is to be built 12 miles off of the Kent coast and will include 341 turbines. Parts of the 'London Array', as it is called, have already been constructed and are operational.
Wind farms in different countries yield different amounts of electricity, because of differences in prevailing wind patterns, siting of the turbines, and the fact that early turbine designs were considerably less efficient and capable of adapting quickly to changes in wind direction and speed. For example, an Oxford University study of the wind over the past 35 years found that UK turbines would have produced 27% of their maximum possible energy, compared with 20% in Denmark and 15% in Germany. [2]
References edit
- ^ A energia eólica em Portugal, 1º Sem. 2006, Rede Eléctrica Nacional
- ^ UK 'has high-quality wind supply', BBC News
External links edit
- European Wind Assosiation Energy
- MySME.de Information on Wind Farm Development in Germany
[[Category:Wind farms]]