HusumWind 2019

•••9••• Branchennews Neuer Windatlas für Europa entwickelt Ein Forscherteam schafft eine neue Pla- nungsgrundlage für die Windenergie- nutzung. Im Forschungsprojekt NEWA haben Wissenschaftler aus ganz Europa einen neuen Windatlas für Europa ent- wickelt. In einem Raster von drei Kilome- tern werden darin die Windverhältnisse in Höhen zwischen 75 und 500 Metern dargestellt. Die Angaben beruhen auf ei- ner europaweiten Simulation der Wind- verhältnisse der zurückliegenden 30 Jah- re. Auf der NEWA-Website können beispielsweise über interaktive Karten Zeitreihen und Statistiken von Windge- schwindigkeit für jeden Punkt in der EU und Informationen über das langjährige Windklima abgerufen werden. Diese sind auf verschiedene Nutzergruppen zugeschnitten. Der Windatlas ist unter folgendem Link erreichbar: https://map. neweuropeanwindatlas.eu/. Worldwide wind power of 597 GW The overall capacity of all wind turbines installed worldwide by the end of 2018 reached 597 Giga- watt, according to statistics pub- lished by WWEA. 50,100 Mega- watt were added in the year 2018, slightly less than in 2017 when 52,552 Megawatt were in- stalled. 2018 was the second year in a row with growing number of new installations but at a lower rate of 9.1 per cent, after 10.8 per cent growth in 2017. All wind tur- bines installed by end of 2018 can cover close to six per cent of the global electricity demand. The year 2018 was mainly charac- terised by new dynamics: While the European wind markets were on a decline, with most Europe- an states showing weak develop- ment, including Germany, Spain, France and Italy. At the same time, robust or even stronger growth has been observed in countries such as China, India, Brazil, many other Asian markets and also some African countries. The by far largest wind power market, China, installed an ad- ditional capacity of 21 Gigawatt and has become the first coun- try with an installed wind power capacity of more than 200 Giga- watt. It has re-taken the growth path after a no-so-strong year in 2017 when a comparatively mod- est 19 Gigawatt were installed. China continues its undisputed position as the world’s wind pow- er leader, with an accumulated wind capacity of 217 Gigawatt. The second largest market, the USA, saw an increase in new ca- pacity from 6.7 Gigawatt in 2017 to 7.6 Gigawatt in 2018, in spite of less ambitious national climate and energy targets. This positive development is not only a result of the economics of wind power, but also of strong and compre- hensive support on the state and municipal level. Soon, the US will be the second country after Chi- na reaching an installed capacity of more than 100 Gigawatt. Wind farm in Palm Springs, USA Photo: Kai Gradert on Unsplash