London celebrated wind power in style this week with a 13.5m turbine right in the middle of Leicester Square, central London. Chris Huhne, UK Sectretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, visited the fully functioning turbine and said that wind energy is “at the heart of” the UK’s plans for renewable energy.

Adam Bell from EmbraceMyPlanet, a campaign to support renewable energy, said that the turbine will attract the eyes of the 200,000 people passing through Leicester Square on a daily basis. “Visitors will also be able to join the Embrace campaign, and support further take up of renewables.”

Wind farms across the country are open to the public this week, an occasion Huhne labelled as a chance to “raise awareness of the opportunities there are for energy security, jobs and business from the industry.”

The UK is approaching 5 GW of installed wind capacity; enough to power 3 million homes. “The UK is currently leading the world in offshore wind, and with over 40 GW of projects at various stages of development, wind energy is changing the way we are powering our households and businesses,” Bell said.

Although it is always wise to take promises made during an election campaign with a grain of salt, a statement about wind power that was made last week just after Britain’s Conservatives and Liberal Democrats agreed to form a coalition government was encouraging to the rapidly developing emissions-free sector.

Chris Huhne, the UK’s new Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, said in an interview that it was scandalous that Britain has not done more to develop wind power and other renewables.

“We literally have an abundance of potential renewable energy and yet we have one of the worst records of any country in the European Union for generating electricity from renewables,” Huhne was reported as saying. “We have got to get renewables way up, we’ve got to make sure we’re much more energy efficient.”

A Liberal Democrat who likes wind turbines, Huhne described Britain as “sitting on the part of Europe that has the most potential for wind power.”

The new coalition government has agreed to increase the amount of energy the nation derives from wind power and other renewables. They also agreed to “fulfill our joint ambitions for a low carbon and eco-friendly economy.”

It’s also worth noting that during the recent election campaign, the Liberal Democrats called for up to 15,000 more wind turbines to be built.

All of this is welcomed by the wind power sector, which is increasingly being used by European politicians, economists and environmentalists to help usher in a new green economy that rejects the continued use of harmful and expensive fossil fuels.

GWEC

As BP continues to search for ways to plug the leak that occurred three weeks ago at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico spilling more than three million gallons of crude oil into the ocean, it is becoming more and more clear that the world needs alternative solutions.

Offshore wind power can provide part of the answer to the dilemma of reducing our dependence on finite and polluting fossil fuels. In Europe alone the winds blowing across the seas are an abundant energy source which can be transformed into green electricity that does not emit CO₂, and will reduce Europe’s growing dependence on imported fossil fuels, creating thousands of sustainable jobs in the process.

There are currently 830 offshore wind turbines now installed and connected to the grid, totalling 2,063 MW in 39 wind farms in nine European countries. Some 17 offshore wind farms are under construction in Europe, totalling more than 3,500 MW, with just under half being constructed in UK waters. In addition, a further 52 offshore wind farms have won full consent in European waters, totalling more than 16,000 MW, with just over half of this capacity planned in Germany. And the growth rates are impressive: In 2009, the market grew by 54% compared to 2008. In 2010 the market grew by an even more considerable 75% compared to the previous year.

EWEA has a target of reaching 230 GW of wind power by 2020 which will include 40 GW of offshore power. This is a challenging but very feasible goal. By 2030, just ten years later, we envisage some 150 GW of offshore wind power.

If all offshore wind projects in their various stages of planning are added up, there are already some 100 GW of offshore wind projects in addition to existing farms. If these become fully functioning wind farms, they would produce 10% of the EU’s electricity while also avoiding 200 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions each year.

Europe must now use the coming decade to prepare for the large-scale exploitation of its biggest indigenous energy resource – offshore wind – overcoming the seemingly significant obstacles – including underwater electricity grids and cables, building the harbours and barges capable of facilitating the installation of offshore wind farms – in the path of its development.

As the US and China are already beginning to show, Europe’s success in offshore wind power can then be repeated the world over.

EWEA’s ‘breath of fresh air’ campaign hit new highs today after the total of wind turbines adopted across Europe reached 500.

The UK still tops the league table with 53 turbines adopted, hotly followed by Spain – 36 adoptions – and France – 31 adoptions. Belgium and Germany, which were in second and third position earlier in the week, have dropped to fourth and fifth respectively.

Participants are also keenly getting their friends and relatives to vote for their adopted turbine. Currently, the Cabeco da Rainha turbine in Portugal is in poll position with 36 votes.

EWEC 2010, where the campaign was launched this Tuesday, is now over and participants are packing up their stands and preparing for the, hopefully shorter, journey home. An impressive 3,000 participants made it to the event while some 1,400 watched the online live video conference.