Last month wind power in Spain reached new heights. This extract from the Spanish wind energy association’s (AEE) blog

On 18 April wind power in Spain reached a new record by producing 317 GW hours of electricity and beating the previous record of 315 GWh recorded on 9 November 2010, according to Red Eléctrica de España (REE). Moveover, during the morning of 19 April, wind power beat previous records by covering  61.06 % of Spain’s electricity demand.

From 1-18 April, wind power produced a total of 3,094 GWh – a 42.7% increase compared to the same period the previous year. On 18 April wind covered an average of 45% of the electricity demand (317 GWh) putting it far ahead of nuclear (163 GWh), coal (72 GWh) and combined-cycle gas (44 GWh).

The new record for electricity demand met was made at 1:37 in the early hours of 19 April (61% of electricity demand with 24.384 MW), beating the earlier record of 60.46% recorded on 16 April 2011 at 3.48am.

Spain has a total installed wind power capacity of 21,674 MW – the second biggest capacity in Europe coming just after Germany’s 29,060 MW.

Middelgrunden

2012 is a big year for the European Wind Energy Association: we will celebrate our 30 year anniversary! Did you know that in 1982, when EWEA was founded, wind turbine size was just 55 kW and there was only one wind farm in Europe? (A five-turbine wind farm on the Greek island of Kyathos.)

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s three countries dominated Europe’s wind energy scene: Denmark, Germany and Spain, and in 1984 the first European Wind Energy Conference (EWEC – now known as the EWEA Annual Event) was held in Hamburg. At that point, the EU had a cumulative wind power capacity of 800 MW.

By the late 1990s, EWEA had set up offices in Brussels and launched its www.ewea.org website. During this period the association also announced a wind energy target for 2020 of 10,000 MW – a goal that was quickly revised just a few years later to 180 GW by 2020.

In the 2000s European wind power achieved several important milestones: The world’s first large-scale offshore wind farm – Middelgrunden – was installed in waters just off Copenhagen. In 2005 European wind power moved above 40,000 MW, exceeding the EU target for 2010 five years ahead of time.

On a policy level, 2009 was a big year for the renewable energy industry in the EU – the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive was agreed by the bloc’s 27 member states, committing Europe to getting 20% of its energy from renewables by 2020.

With a total cumulative wind power capacity of 94 GW today, which supplies 6.3% of Europe’s electricity demand, wind power is still making huge advances, but the picture is diversifying: markets are emerging in Eastern Europe and offshore wind power is taking off in countries like the UK, for example.

While it’s interesting to look back over the last 30 years (why not check out our timeline and classic photos from the archives?) EWEA is now looking forward to the next 30 years – where will wind power be by 2042? Will we be on track to a 100% renewable energy power sector by 2050 with wind power meeting 50% of that? Will the EU meet its goal of cutting carbon emissions by 80-95% compared to 1990 levels by 2050 by cleaning up its power sector? Let us know your thoughts on our Facebook page.

And, in September, EWEA’s magazine Wind Directions will publish analysis of the first 30 years, plus exclusive interviews and photos.

Anni Mikkonen

By Anni Mikkonen, Finnish Wind Power Association

Finland has one of the lowest amounts of wind energy capacity in Europe but the situation could be changing. Anni Mikkonen from the Finnish Wind Energy Association tells the EWEA blog why…

Finland’s target for 2020 is to meet 38% of the country’s energy consumption with renewable energies. The main renewable energy sources to meet this target are biomass, wind power and hydro power. In the national renewable energy action plan, the target for wind is 2,500 MW in installed capacity. It is not much compared to the leading wind energy countries in Europe, but it is an ambitious target for a country that has currently got a very modest wind energy capacity – only 198 MW.

So far construction has been extremely slow in Finland, but there will be a change in speed from this year onwards since the feed-in-tariff was implemented in March 2011 and work to remove administrative barriers has started. About 100 MW worth of wind power will be installed this year, which is a good start!

The rise in interest in the Finnish wind power market could also be seen at the EWEA 2012 Annual Event held in Copenhagen last month. There were at least 14 Finnish companies exhibiting – that must have been a record! There were also plenty of Finnish conference and exhibition delegates listening to the interesting presentations and making important connections. It seemed that wherever you went there was always a Finn around the corner!

The Finnish Minister of Economics, Jyri Häkämies, who is also in charge of energy issues, visited the exhibition on the final morning of the event. The visit was a very important signal to the industry showing that there is a really strong political will in Finland to reach the 2020 targets. Minister Häkämies talked about the importance of wind power in meeting the Finnish 2020 targets and said that administrative barriers will be removed.

Like in every other market, wind power in Finland still faces challenges. One of these could be local acceptance. However, public acceptance of wind energy is very high – according to a survey carried out by the Federation of Energy Industries in spring 2012, over 89% of Finns would like to see more wind power installed. The communications academy organised by EWEA after the conference gave participants excellent ideas on how to work with local people to gain local acceptance. For example, I was really interested to learn about a number of studies the Canadian Wind Energy Association have made on wind energy and health. Moreover, information I gained from wind farm developers and other national associations will help me write a code of conduct for Finnish developers later this year.

Dumped equipment at Chernobyl

Japan is much in the news this week after the Asian nation shut down the last of its 54 nuclear reactors for safety tests and maintenance following last year’s earthquake and tsunami which triggered a meltdown of the Fukushima reactor.

Wind power and other renewables are expected to help fill some of the gap caused by shutting down Japan’s nuclear industry, which had provided more than 30% of electricity for the world’s number three economy.

The shutdown has created a fierce debate in the nation, which has an estimated 127 million people, as many don’t want the nuclear reactors turned back on after the required tests. According to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), many Japanese are calling for the reactors to be replaced with renewable energy,

It is the first time in 42 years that a nuclear reactor has not been producing electricity in Japan. As a result of the shutdown, the nation will also be increasing its costly imports of oil and natural gas.

Associated Press reported that Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has pledged to reduce Japan’s reliance on nuclear power over time.

The news agency also noted that Japan is debating renewable energy targets of between 25% to 35% of total power generation by 2030, looking to Germany which raised the proportion of renewables from 5% in 1990 to 20% by 2010.

In its Annual Market Update 2011, GWEC also noted there is now a struggle for the future of the Japanese electricity system.

The report said that while Japan’s wind power sector is maturing, the most serious problem in the nation is still the lack of an official long-term target for wind power development.

Japan had 2,501 MW of installed wind power by the end of last year, the report added.

GWEC Secretary General Steve Sawyer said the recently published feed-in tariffs for renewable energy sources, which will come into effect on 1 July, are another step on the long road towards transforming the Japanese electricity sector.

Japan’s new long-term post-Fukushima energy plan will not be released until summer. Meanwhile, the two Japanese Wind Energy Associations have called for at least 25 GW (equivalent to 5% of total electricity supply in Japan) of wind power development by 2030.

The company spent more than 18 months developing and testing in France what it claims is “the world’s first wind turbine capable of producing 1,000 litres of water per day by the condensation of air”. It recently shipped the technology to Abu Dhabi so it can “undergo its first phases of tests in the harsh weather conditions of the Middle East” before the permanent implantation of the turbine.

The WMS1000 wind turbine has proved during initial trials that it can collect on average more than 62 litres of water per hour with an average humidity rate of 45% and an average temperature of 24° C. And it can produce water of a higher drinking water quality than that demanded by World Health Organisation standards.

Wind already saves water

Meanwhile, wind power is already saving water since it uses very little water to produce electricity. The power sector in general is one of the world’s biggest consumers of water for activities including pumping crude oil out of the ground, removing pollutants from power plant exhausts, flushing residues after fossil fuels are burned and cooling power plants.

Coal uses up to 3.2 cubic metres of water per megawatt hour (MWh) of electricity produced, gas uses up to 1.7 m³ per MWh and nuclear around 2.7 m³ per MWh, but wind power uses only a fraction of these amounts.

At the same time, wind power is being used around the world to help some of the poorest communities. One such community, in the tiny village of Cajiniquil in central Nicaragua, has a 1kW wind turbine installed by EWEA’s chosen charity Renewable World. The turbine, installed in 2010, provides enough electricity to power electric lights, replacing the dangerous, smoking home-made paraffin lamps they used before. Moreover, the turbine powers an electric water pump so the villagers have access to clean water, rather than the river water they used to drag up to the village in buckets. Read the full report in Wind Directions.