The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre has just released their annual ‘renewable energy snapshots’, confirming the strong growth of renewable energy in 2009. Their analysis chimes with ours: renewable energy sources accounted for 62% of new electricity generation capacity installed in the EU last year with wind power leading the way accounting for 38% of the total.

Positive news for our planet, and all the more so since the Commission predicts that if we maintain current growth rates, by 2020 renewables could account for 35-40% of overall electricity consumption.

“This would contribute significantly to the fulfilment of the 20% target for energy generation from renewables,” the Commission said in a press release.

On wind power in particular, the JRC paper says, “with more than 74 GW of total installed capacity in 2009, it has already exceeded the 2010 white paper target of 40GW by more than 80%.”

But, there is a note of caution attached to the good news: “Some issues need to be resolved if the targets are to be met,” the Commission said. This includes:
–    Ensuring fair access to grids
–    Substantial public R&D support
–    The adaptation of current electricity systems to accommodate renewable electricity

While we at EWEA look forward to a continued strong growth in the renewables sector, we strongly encourage the Commission to listen to the advice of its research centre, putting the policies in place that will ensure that these issues are solved.

As the stories previously reported on this blog will tell you, the world is beginning to make changes towards a low carbon economy, and, the potential of offshore wind power in driving this change in the energy sector is now being realised.

Offshore wind, key in fighting climate change, does have an impact on marine environments  – something which researchers and offshore wind developers are aware of and are developing their knowledge.

A new study, ‘Greening Blue Energy’, published by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and written in collaboration with E.ON and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, discusses offshore wind farms and their effects on marine biodiversity.

In the long term, offshore wind farms can be beneficial to the local ecosystems, the study finds. One of the biggest ways wind farms achieve this is in protecting marine species from trawling – among the most severe threat to the marine environment.

Environmentalists criticise trawling for its lack of selectivity – sweeping up both desired and non-desired fish of legal and illegal size. Tons of unwanted fish are discarded each year, dying needlessly.

“Long term trawling exclusion enhances abundance of several species of fish within the whole wind farm area and the effects can be considered large,” states the study.

Boulders that are used to protect the foundations of wind turbines can also offer shelter to marine species by acting as a kind of artificial reef. “It is certain that the wind turbines and scour protections will function as artificial reefs for several species of fish,” the study says.

However, during the construction phase in particular, an offshore wind farm can disturb the marine environment by the noise created, electromagnetic fields and changed water conditions.

“Moving away from oil, gas and coal is vital to avoid the worse impacts of climate change, in this context on marine ecosystems,” says Dan Wilhelmsson, Scientific Coordinator at IUCN and co-author of the report. “At the same time, we need to make sure that what we call blue energy, which includes the offshore renewable sources, is also green and doesn’t exacerbate existing stresses on the marine environment.”

The IUCN urges more research and thorough maritime spatial planning to minimise the risks: “Continued careful monitoring of offshore wind energy developments and their actual impacts on marine wildlife will be vital to generate reliable data and help ensure that offshore wind energy fulfils its sustainable potential,” said Nadine McCormick from the IUCN.

Offshore wind energy development in the European Union is accelerating and could potentially supply 12-16% of the EU’s electricity by 2030, the equivalent of 25,000 wind turbines, the IUCN says.

Read the report and have your say by commenting below.

Pressure continues to mount on US lawmakers to use wind power and other renewables as a way of increasing the nation’s energy security, lessening its dependence on expensive, imported and polluting foreign oil, and creating a sustainable clean energy future.

A petition in the form of a 40-metre-long wind turbine blade arrived in Washington just before President Barack Obama and congressional leaders met on Tuesday at the White House to discuss energy policy.

A GE Energy press release said more than 6,000 people had signed the petition, which was delivered by the company and the American Wind Energy Association, as it made its way across 10 states to Washington.

“Manufactured in South Dakota, the wind turbine blade symbolizes how clean energy creates new U.S. manufacturing jobs in addition to providing clean power for America’s homes and factories,” said Vic Abate, vice president for renewables at GE Energy.

Destined to be part of a 1.5-MW wind turbine, the blade traveled more than 6,440 kilometres and was parked in front of the Nationals Park. It carried the message: “I’m helping to build America’s energy future,” issuing a call to Congress: Create More American Jobs by Enacting Clean Energy Policies This Year.

The press release also noted that one 1.5-MW wind turbine produces enough energy to power approximately 400 households. To generate the same amount of electricity as a single 1.5-MW wind turbine operating for 20 years would require burning 43,500 tons of coal or 138,000 barrels of oil.

The final text of the G20 summit of world leaders in Toronto which ended on Sunday contained mixed messages for wind energy. Here, we report on how the news travelled around the green community.

In a positive move, picked up by Business Green, the G20 reiterated a previous pledge to phase out expensive and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies – which are worth around $550 billion a year. The text said fossil fuel subsidies “encourage wasteful consumption”, adding that they will be phased out “over the medium term”. It also pledged to review progress on the phase out – which could cut global carbon emissions by around 7% according to the International Energy Agency – at upcoming summits, something which we too will be watching closely.

But the bad news for wind energy, reported by the Earth Times, came as the leaders of the G20 agreed to drop an earlier pledge to commit to investments in clean energy. In the final text, this was watered down to a “commitment to a green recovery and to sustainable global growth.”

According to the WWF blog, this is a substantial change from the Pittsburgh G20 summit in 2009 which contained eight references to ‘clean energy’. “They want through this document with a vacuum cleaner to remove any reference to clean energy,” Kim Carstensen, WWF climate expert, said.

References to investment in the fight against climate change were also weak – while the EU and Japan remained strong over their commitments to cut carbon, other countries wrangled over who should do how much, says WWF. Moreover, no initiatives were agreed on financial transaction taxes that could help fund the cost of climate change action in the world’s poorest countries. At the most, the final version of the text pledged to continue to support international climate change talks ahead of the upcoming UN summit in Mexico.

“The greenest thing about the G20 is its ability to reuse and recycle earlier commitments. This summit could have been the beginning of real action towards a clean, efficient and resilient economy but all we got is some nice words about green economy and a recycled statement on fossil fuel subsidies,” Carstensen said.

Egypt is positioning itself to become a major wind power centre in Africa with the announcement last week that the nation is getting ready to choose companies to build a massive 1,000 megawatt (MW) wind farm along the Gulf of Suez.

The announcement, made by Electricity Minister Hassan Younes, is part of Egypt’s aggressive plans to install at least 7,200 MW of new wind capacity by 2020. Egypt wants 20% of its energy needs provided by renewables within 10 years, with wind power expected to generate 12%.

The new Egyptian wind farm would rival the size of the enormous London Array offshore wind facility being built in the Thames Estuary.

According to a report in The National, Egypt currently meets more than 86% of its electricity demand from thermal plants burning mostly natural gas. Another 12% is hydro-electricity from the Aswan High Dam in the far south of the country. The report also said existing wind farms contribute less than 1% to Egypt’s energy mix.

A nation of more than 80 million people, Egypt is seeking to attract $110 billion in investments in its energy sector by 2027. Reports reveal that some of the world’s best wind power resources are in Egypt, especially in the areas of the Gulf of Suez, where at least 7,200 MW could be potentially developed by 2022, with a further 3,000 MW on the west and east banks of the Nile.

Younes’ announcement that the project will soon be tendered followed a decision by the World Bank to approve a $220 million loan to Egypt to support the Wind Power Development Project, out of which $150 million is financed from the Clean Technology Fund (CTF). This is the first CTF supported project in the Middle East and North Africa region.

“The project will support the renewable energy strategy of Egypt, which has given the utmost priority to the large scale renewable energy electricity generation program which can serve both national and regional goals of achieving fossil fuel savings, protection of the environment, and the creation of green jobs and technology transfer,” a World Bank press release said.