In September, two important milestones were set for wind energy as installed capacities reached a 100 gigawatts and 50 gigawatts in the European Union and the United States of America, respectively.
The 100 GW of wind turbines are producing as much electricity as 62 coal-fired plants or 39 nuclear reactors or 52 natural gas generators as the European Wind Energy Association noted.
The market in accelerating exponentially in Europe as “it took two decades for these countries to reach 10 GW and just 13 years to add another 90 GW “
The 50 GW in the USA are accounting for around three percent of electricity in 2011 as the Earth Policy Institute noted.
However, this renewable energy sources already provides more than ten percent of the electricity in five US States, with as much as 22 percent in South Dakota !
Let’s hope policy makers will help wind turbines sprout all around the world as it is a great and cheap way to replace dirty coal…