The amount of electricity generated by wind turbines in Europe rose by 30 per
cent in 1999, beating the industry’s own targets. The European Wind Energy
Association says that wind capacity now exceeds 8900 megawatts, 900 megawatts
more than it was anticipating.
The increase was due to major expansions of wind power in Germany, Spain,
Denmark, the Netherlands and Italy. The association says that wind is now on
target for providing 100 000 megawatts—about 10 per cent of Europe’s
electricity—by 2020.
