Anni Mikkonen

By Anni Mikkonen, Finnish Wind Power Association

Finland has one of the lowest amounts of wind energy capacity in Europe but the situation could be changing. Anni Mikkonen from the Finnish Wind Energy Association tells the EWEA blog why…

Finland’s target for 2020 is to meet 38% of the country’s energy consumption with renewable energies. The main renewable energy sources to meet this target are biomass, wind power and hydro power. In the national renewable energy action plan, the target for wind is 2,500 MW in installed capacity. It is not much compared to the leading wind energy countries in Europe, but it is an ambitious target for a country that has currently got a very modest wind energy capacity – only 198 MW.

Renewable energy targets for 2030, investments in electricity grids and the continuation of stable national support schemes for wind power – these were three of the factors that wind industry CEOs told Martin Lidegaard, Denmark’s Energy Minister, will be key to the wind industry’s development in coming years.

“We need to know what is going to happen,” Jan Kjaersgaard, CEO of Siemens Wind Power said at a roundtable debate held at EWEA 2012 in Copenhagen. Today the industry has target certainty – with the EU’s target to increase the share of renewable energy up to 20% by 2020 – but after that there is a political vacuum.

Torben Pedersen

The continuing economic crisis has created a need for alternative sources of capital for the renewable energy sector, people attending a panel session at the EWEA 2012 Annual Event in Copenhagen heard on Wednesday. Torben Pedersen, of PensionDanmark, also said there are considerable pressures on public finances due to debt issues and on the banking sector and private investors due to the economic crisis (read an interview with Torben Pedersen in the latest Wind Directions).

As a result, Pedersen said, alternative sources of capital like pension funds may help finance large-scale investments in green infrastructure. He told the panel session — Outlook for Project Finance: The Next Three Years — that about €150 billion is needed to advance the offshore wind sector in northern Europe in the next decade.

Gian Michele Rossi, Elpower, signing up to support free movement of electricity

The EWEA 2012 Annual Event in Copenhagen may have a packed and highly informative conference agenda, but at the same time the exhibition is buzzing to the tune of inter-industry networking and teeming with show-cases of the industry’s latest innovations. We spent the afternoon talking to exhibitors and visitors on the floor…

While thousands of people were attending presentations, panel sessions and debates Tuesday at the EWEA 2012, many others strolled through the adjoining cavernous exhibition halls to learn more about wind power products and services.

With 12,000 square metres of exhibition space and 525 exhibitors at the Bella Center, there was simply something for everyone.

Steve Sawyer of GWEC

Asia will continue to drive global growth in wind power markets during the next several years, the European market will remain solid but the North American market will be uncertain and volatile.

That was the prediction by Steve Sawyer, Secretary General of the Global Wind Energy Council, at the EWEA 2012 Annual Event in Copenhagen panel session that was held on Tuesday to discuss future changes in the international electricity-generating sector.