The World Wind Energy Council (GWEC) predicts that in 2017 the will install more than 60.000 Wind MW in the world and that the annual installation it will rise to about 75.000 MW per year in 2021.
According to the Global Wind Market Report presented a few days ago in New Delhi, it is expected that that year (2021) the sum of total wind megawatts installed reach 800.000, which would practically double the current power.
According to the report, in 2016 a little more than 54.000 MW of wind energy were installed in more than 90 countries, of which 9 (including Spain) have more than 10.000 MW installed and 29 have exceeded 1.000 MW. Global accumulated capacity grew by 12,6% last year, to 486.000 MW installed.
Goal 2050
According to Steve Sawyer, General Secretary of GWEC “La eólica compete successfully currently with other heavily subsidized technologies around the world, building new industries, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs, and leading the way to a sustainable energy future”. '' We have to achieve a zero emissions energy system before 2050 if we want to comply with climate change and development goals, ”he says.
Wind compete successfully today with other heavily subsidized technologies around the world, builds new industries, creates hundreds of thousands of jobs and leads the way to a sustainable energy future, ”said Steve Sawyer, GWEC Secretary General. '' We have to achieve a zero-emission energy system by 2050 if we want to comply with climate change and development objectives ”, he claims.
Wind penetration
Wind penetration levels continue to increase in the world, led by Denmark with 40%, followed by Uruguay, Portugal and Ireland with more than 20%, Spain and Cyprus with around 20%, Germany 16%, China with 4%, United States 5,5% and Canada with 6%.
The ultra-low prices of the latest offshore wind auctions in Europe they are boosting again the European wind market, somewhat languid in recent times, and attracting the attention of regulators around the world.
Always according to the report, Europe will continue to lead offshore wind, although other continents such as Asia or North America will not be long join the party. However, Asia will be the continent that will lead wind growth, with China and India leading the way. North America will follow and Europe will continue "its safe if unspectacular march" towards the 2020 goals. In Latin America, and despite Brazil's political and economic problems, other countries in the region have grown to fill the void, especially Uruguay, Chile, and Argentina.
Africa will have a great year in 2017, led by Kenya, South Africa and Morocco. Australia, after a lull, It seems to re-emerge with projects for the next five years.
The most powerful wind turbine in the world
The latest milestone in this regard was recently announced by the company, a union between the Danish multinational Vestas and the Japanese Mitsubishi known as Mhivestasoffshore.
They have developed a prototype of a9 MW off-shore generator of power, installed on the Danish coast, capable of producing in just 24 hours an amount of energy equivalent to what a home in the United States would consume for two decades. It is primarily designed for wind speeds between 12 and 25 meters per second.
Enough to power a home for 66 years
According to Torben Hvid larsen, Vestas CTO:
"Our prototype has set another generation record, with 216.000 kWh produced in a 24-hour period. We are confident that this 9 MW wind turbine has proven to be market ready, and we believe it will play a key role in lowering offshore wind energy prices. "
Usually talking about kilowatts is a bit difficult and abstract. But according to official bodies, the average electricity consumption of a Spanish home is 3.250 kWh per year. A quantity slightly higher than the average annual consumption of urban dwellings in the main cities of South America. Taking this into account, a day of production could supply electricity to an average home for over 66 years.
So that we can get an idea of the relevance of the development, it is a wind turbine that measures Meters 220 (similar to the tallest building in the city of Madrid). Its rotating blades on the rotor are just over 83 meters long and weigh over 38 tons.
The prototype developed It is an advance to a previous 8 MW model, similar to the one it also has in the portfolio another giant of wind energy such as the German Siemens.