Nearly 15% of Europe's electricity will be generated by wind by 2020, according to a report published in July by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA).
'Wind energy scenarios for 2020' concluded that investment of up to €124billion in wind farms over the next seven years will increase the region's capacity from 75GW to a total of 192.4GW, of which 23.5GW will be offshore. This is expected to produce 442 TWh of power, or 14.9% of the European Union's electricity consumption, and to create 100,000 additional jobs in the industry.
EWEA's deputy chief executive officer Justin Wilkes said: "While regulatory stability is still recovering in Europe, onshore markets such as Germany, France, United Kingdom and Poland will be vital for wind power installations. For offshore, extra confidence in the UK, continued deployment in Germany and faster deployment in France and the Netherlands should continue to push the industry forward to 2020."
