The European Union’s installed wind capacity will increase 64% by 2020 when compared to 2013 levels, according to a new report by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA)
The new report revealed that the EU nations will install 75GW of wind energy in the next seven years to reach a total of 192.4GW.
Around 23.5GW of total estimated installations will be in the offshore wind sector, with up to €124bn of investments in wind farms by 2020 across the EU, creating more than 100,000 additional jobs in the wind industry.
The wind energy is expected to generate 442TWh of power by 2020, meeting 14.9% of EU electricity consumption, which will be 11% lower than it did in 2009.
European Wind Energy Association deputy chief executive officer Justin Wilkes said: “A cocktail of regulatory uncertainty, ongoing climate and energy discussions at EU level and rapidly evolving national frameworks has contributed to these new scenarios.
“However, while regulatory stability is still recovering in Europe, onshore markets such as Germany, France, United Kingdom and Poland will remain key 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. It remains the fastest growing part of the power sector in Europe today.”