New research by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) estimates that 8,600MW of new wind energy capacity will be installed in the EU-27 in 2009: an annual growth rate of 1% compared to 2008 installations.
The fact that wind turbine manufacturers had healthy order books prior to the financial crisis reduces the impact of the crisis on the European market for wind turbines. EWEA expects the financial crisis to have a deeper impact in 2010, unless measures are taken rapidly to increase liquidity in the financial market. It is essential that the billions of Euros provided by governments to European banks through stimulus packages reach the real economy, says the industry group. Inside the EU, there looks to be a difference between the more established markets in the old EU-15 Member States and the emerging markets of the EU-12. The EU-15 are expected to install a similar number of MW in 2009 to the amount they added in 2008. The EU-12, however, are set to install 150 MW more than they installed in 2008: an increase of approximately 35%.
