GROWTH for EU OFFSHORE WIND POWER in 2010

Offshore wind turbines installed in 2010 - an increase of 51% in installed wind power capacity on the previous year - offshore wind power experienced a new record growth in Europe.

In total, 883 Megawatt (MW) of new capacity, worth some €2.6 billion, were installed in 2010 in nine wind farms in five countries, making a total of 2,946 MW.

The installed offshore wind power capacity now supplies the equivalent of 2.9 million average EU households with electricity –comparable with the amounts of power consumed by the cities Berlin and Brussels together – from a total of 1,136 offshore wind turbines. In a normal wind year they would produce 11.5 Terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity.

These figures are published by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) in its “European offshore wind industry - key trends and statistics 2010” today in Brussels.

They show the United Kingdom to be European (and world) leader, with a total installed offshore wind capacity of 1,341 Megawatt (MW). The UK is followed by Denmark (854 MW), The Netherlands (249 MW), Belgium (195 MW), Sweden (164 MW), Germany (92 MW), Ireland (25 MW), Finland (26 MW) and Norway with 2.3 MW.

Source: EWEA Press Release 20.01.2011