Using wind energy for power generation is not a new phenomenon. Europe and North America were the first markets that started the trend of adopting wind power to fulfil their electricity needs. But much of it has been changed now, with more than half of all new wind power being produced outside Europe and North America; the trend mainly driven by China and India.
In such a scenario, Wind Europe, an association of wind energy companies in Europe has taken a step to bring the focus back to Europe. It has published an interactive map that shows percent-wise share of wind energy in electricity demand. The map also provides information about the Gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity generated by the wind in onshore and offshore regions, and number of households it can power, or the average industrial electricity demand it can supply, all important details, which are useful to make references.
The map shows change in ranking with weather and market conditions, and answers questions like where did Europe generate wind power yesterday. Data shows that countries like Germany, the UK, and Spain were the top beneficiaries that generated most power from wind energy, whereas Bulgaria, Czech Republic, and Cyprus being the least benefitted countries.
The map reveals the data of November 26 from 3:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. and it shows that all of Europe generated 1,307 GWh of power through onshore wind and 247 GWh from offshore wind. The information provided on this platform is extracted every day from 15,000 data points including information provided via the ENTSO-E transparency platform.
For example, if you click on Germany on the map, it will show you that Germany managed to produce 47% of the total electricity demand of Europe through wind energy. The country produced 592 GWh power, out of which 499 GWh were generated in onshore areas and 93 GWh in offshore areas. With this much power, Germany can power 60 million households in Europe or fulfil 94% of the average industrial electricity demand of the European Union (EU).
On the other hand, Belgium contributed 13.5% of the total electricity demand of Europe with wind energy. The country with its onshore and offshore wind turbines managed to produce 31 GWh, which could power 3 million houses or fulfil 30% of the average industrial electricity demand of the EU.
Though the discovery of renewable sources of energy impacted the traditional method of power generation considerably, still it will take some more years for them to become a mainstream source for power generation. However, with rapidly changing trends, we see a significant shift in investment in setting up new power generation plants, especially in wind farms, because it’s economic and has value for money.
