Turkey prevails in top 10 Europe wind energy power list

By Gulsen Cagatay

ANKARA

Turkey ranked sixth among the European continent’s 38 countries, including Russia and Ukraine, for additional installed wind capacity in 2018, WindEurope statistics showed on Thursday.

Turkey added 467 megawatts (MW) in 2018 to reach a total of 7,369 MW installed capacity, according to the Wind Energy in Europe in 2018 Trends and Statistics report.

Total onshore and offshore wind capacity in the European continent, including Russia and Ukraine, reached 189,229 MW in 2018 to provide 14 percent of the EU’s electricity last year, up from 12 percent in 2017.

The report said that "wind power capacity rose in Europe by 11.3 gigawatts (GW) in 2018: 8.6 GW onshore and 2.65 GW offshore, resulting in Europe's wind installed capacity of 189 GW: 171 GW onshore and 18 GW offshore, the report showed.

Denmark registered the highest share of wind in its electricity last year at 41 percent, followed by Ireland at 28 percent, and Portugal with 24 percent.

In 2018, Germany installed the most wind power capacity in 2018, with 29 percent of Europe’s gross installations.

According to the report, Germany remains the European country with the largest installed wind power capacity, followed by Spain, the U.K., France, and Italy.

The U.K. registered the largest annual increase of wind energy in its electricity, from 13.5 percent to 18 percent, although the number of new onshore wind farms dried up in the U.K. Portugal generated 24 percent of its electricity from wind, Germany had 21 percent, and Spain reported 19 percent.

Wind energy investments

According to the report, investments were up from 2017 by 20 percent to €26.7 billion, almost equivalent to the record year for investment in 2016. In 2018, offshore investments amounted to €10.3 billion while onshore investments hit a record level of €16.4 billion.

"Wind energy accounted for 63 percent of investments in renewable energy in 2018, up from 52 percent in 2017," the report highlighted.

Wind turbine size

The size and type of wind turbines installed in Europe varied significantly between countries. On average, the most powerful onshore wind turbines were installed in Norway, with an average rating of 3.6 MW.

Lithuania and Greece had the lowest average power rating of 2 MW.

In 2018, the average rated capacity of newly installed offshore turbines was 6.8 MW, 15 percent larger than in 2017.

In addition, the largest average power rating was in Denmark, with 7.7 MW.

Auctions and tenders in 2018

Last year, eight countries held renewable energy auctions where wind energy secured volumes of 9.3 GW in total.

"German and Dutch offshore auctions saw zero-subsidy bids. The latest onshore wind auctions in Germany and France were undersubscribed, while the Polish, Danish and Greek auctions recorded extremely low prices in their countries due to a healthy pipeline of permitted projects," according to the report.

Top ten European countries which held the most capacity in 2018 are as follows:-