Cumulative wind energy
capacity of 323 gigawatts (GW) could be installed in the EU by 2030, 253 GW onshore
and 70 GW offshore, as per the central scenario of WindEurope’s Wind Energy in
Europe: Scenarios for 2030 report last week.
The report highlights the
social and economic impacts of three possible scenarios for wind energy
capacity installations in 2030 - low, medium and high.
It underlined that with its
central scenario; wind energy could produce 888 terawatts-hours of electricity,
equivalent to 30 percent of the EU’s power demand.
In the low scenario, 256.4
GW of wind capacity by 2030 is predicted, 207 GW onshore and 49 GW offshore,
producing 21.6 percent of the EU’s power demand by 2030.
The high scenario, which
assumes favorable market and policy conditions, including the achievement of a
35 percent EU renewable energy target, forecasts that 397 GW of wind energy
capacity will be installed in the EU by 2030, 298.5 GW onshore and 99 GW
offshore.
This would be 23 percent
more capacity than in the central scenario and two and a half times more
capacity than currently installed in the EU.
Based on the central
scenario, "the amount [323 GW] would be more than double the capacity
installed at the end of 2016 [160 GW]," the report read. In addition, the
wind power industry is set to invest €239 billion by 2030 and provide
employment to 569,000 people.
(Anadolu Agency)