European wind power experienced an amazingly robust ride in 2009 even though the year began with an ongoing global recession and ended with continued inertia caused by political leaders failing to reach an effective agreement on limiting climate change. Indeed, there is only one conclusion to be reached following a quick review of press releases issued by the European Wind Energy Association in 2009: wind power was, and is, a force of good in an increasingly complex and diverse world whipsawed by economic, energy and environmental problems.

As a result of being local, affordable, sustainable, dependable and rapidly deployable, wind power's reputation continued to grow among policy makers and entrepreneurs alike as a smart investment in our collective future. Further enhancing wind power's popularity - especially during recessionary times - was the quickly escalating number of good-paying jobs associated with the demand for wind turbines. The fact that wind power is already a key solution to fighting global warming only served to highlight the industry's many benefits.

Bulgaria is set to dramatically expand its wind power output in the next 10 years, delegates at a workshop on integrating wind power in Bulgaria heard today. From the current 330 MW installed to over 3,000 MW by 2020, wind energy will meet 13.5% of Bulgaria's electricity demand. The workshop, organised by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) in cooperation with the Bulgarian Association of Producers of Ecological Energy (APEE), pooled industry, government representatives, and national electricity companies together to discuss the potential for wind power development in the country.

"With installed capacity increasing more than fivefold in less than two years, Bulgaria is one of the fastest growing markets for wind energy in the world. Moreover, it has another 8,000 MW of wind projects in the pipeline. If current planning and grid access barriers are streamlined, Bulgaria will soon be one of Europe's wind energy front-runners, reaping the economic benefits in the form of new jobs, reduced fuel import dependency and technology development," said Christian Kjaer, EWEA's Chief Executive.

With EU Environment ministers meeting tomorrow to finalise the EU's position for the Copenhagen climate change conference in December, the European Wind Energy Association is releasing new calculations on how much wind power can contribute to achieving greenhouse gas emission targets. In a briefing for Ministers and Members of the European Parliament, EWEA says that it expects wind energy to avoid the emission of 333 million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2020. This is the equivalent to 29% of the EU's current greenhouse gas reduction target of 20% by 2020. "The EU should go into Copenhagen confident that greenhouse gas emissions can be slashed rapidly, and that its own targets can be met and exceeded," said Christian Kjaer, CEO of EWEA. "The growing pessimism on global action against climate change needs to be nipped in the bud. The targets can be achieved with currently available renewable energy technology and an increase in Europe's energy efficiency. The wind energy industry is already delivering massive greenhouse gas emission reductions. Europe is still far ahead of a rather unambitious group of developed countries when it comes to commitments. However, if it takes the scientific evidence seriously, the EU should raise its ambition and aim for a 30% domestic carbon reduction target, with offsetting mechanisms like the Clean Development Mechanism adding a further 10%." In 2012, wind power in the EU will avoid the emission of 146 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent to 32% of the EU's Kyoto greenhouse gas reduction target.

Source: EWEA