Wind Energy On the Move

Meanwhile, worldwide wind power capacity jumped 31% during 2001, according to the Earth Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.—from 17,800 MW to 23,300 MW! With one MW of electricity capacity typically satisfying 350 households in an industrial society, or roughly 1,000 people, the current global wind energy capacity serves approximately 23 million people—equal to the combined populations of Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Germany currently leads the world in wind energy production with 8,000 MW of capacity, followed by the U.S. with 4,150 MW and Spain with 3,300 MW. Denmark, with 2,500 MW of wind energy capacity, gets 18% of its electricity from wind. In the U.S., according to the Earth Policy Institute, the cost of wind-generated electricity has fallen from 35¢/kWh in the mid-1980s to 4¢/kWh in 2001, with some recent long-term supply contracts signed at prices as low as 3¢/kWh!

Finally, on January 11, Ireland approved a plan to build the world’s largest offshore wind farm. The $571 million (640 million Euro) project, being built by the private company Eirtricity, will have a capacity of 520 MW—enough to provide 10% of Ireland’s electricity needs and reduce its CO