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European Offshore Wind Power – New Dimensions in Electricity Generation
Figure 3: Offshore Construction on Scroby Sands, UK Figure 5: Horns Reed, Denmark
Photo courtesy of Vestas.
Photo courtesy of Vestas.
Figure 4: Lillgrund Offshore Wind Farm, Sweden
• Scotland announced 6GW of capacity would be developed in its
territorial waters; and
• The Netherlands announced an ambitious plan for 6GW of offshore
wind by 2020.
Incorporating all of these changes will not be easy. The potential
benefits flowing from a mature European offshore wind industry,
however, which should be seen as separate to onshore wind industry
development, are simply too many and too important to ignore.
Offshore wind power in the EU will create thousands of permanent
high-technology jobs and foster greater research and development. It
will  generate local, affordable, dependable green electricity and, by
reducing the need to continue burning expensive, imported and
Photo courtesy of Vestas.
environmentally harmful fuels, help mitigate global warming. n
EU Electricity Generation – Growth 2000–2008
EU Generation Capacity 2000–2008 EU Electricity Energy Mix (2008)
35,000
1%
30,000
2%
1%
3%
1%
25,000
5%
5%
20,000
MW 30%
52%
15,000
10,000
Gas Fuel oil Nuclear
5,000
Wind Hydro Other*
0
Coal Biomass PV
2000 2001 2000 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Source: EWEA and Platts Power Vision. *Geothermal, peat and waste .
MODERN ENERGY REVIEW VOLUME 1
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