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In recent years, the debate about global warming and its consequences has reached new heights. What started as a grassroots movement has become a fully integrated issue in the global public debate and the hunt for sustainable solutions has intensified. One of these solutions is wind power.

oday there is broad consensus in the scientific community that climate change is related to the increasing volume of CO2 emissions generated by human activities. Today, we need to think along new lines if we are to accommodate the constantly rising demand for energy.

MODERN ENERGY

In just a few years, wind power has developed from being an alternative form of energy to its status as a large scale reliable source of energy integrated in the energy mix along with oil and gas. Multinational energy companies are now seriously making their entrance into the wind energy business.

Wind is an inexhaustible, free and clean source of energy, and a fully operational wind power plant can be established in as little as 18 months. There is every reason, therefore, to refer to wind power as Modern Energy.

There are as many as eight persuasive arguments to see wind power as a great contributor in curbing CO2 emissions:

1. Wind power is increasingly competitive on price.
2. Wind power generates no emissions of CO2, SOx or NOx.
3. Wind is free.
4. Wind is an inexhaustible source of energy.
5. Wind is not limited by geographical borders.
6. Wind power generates no waste.
7. Wind power plants can be established quickly.
8. Wind power does not consume water for energy production.

FIGURES THAT SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES

When conventional sources of energy are to be supplemented or replaced in a country’s energy mix, it is necessary to take additional factors, such as cost, into consideration. And in this area, wind power has reached a level of technological maturity where it can compete on price with conventional forms of energy, if the comparison is made on equal terms.

In 2006, an analysis performed by the consultancy company Emerging Energy Research on behalf of Vestas Wind Systems revealed that even without including the costs of CO2 emissions, land based wind power is only marginally more expensive than electricity from a new coal-fired power station. Its cost is equal to that of the cost of electricity from a new natural gas-fired plant. If a realistic quota price of €30 per tonne of emitted CO2 is included in the calculations, land based wind power, with an average price of €0.050/kWh is more competitively priced than electricity from coal (€0.065/kWh), Intensified gasification combined cycle (IGCC) (€0.058/kWh) and natural gas (€0.055/kWh).

Moreover, it is worth remembering that the ‘fuel’ for a wind turbine is free, and not subject to the uncertainty of future energy prices. This means that wind power hits the supply curve for a mix of energy technologies – the curve that shows the relationship between volume and price – at the bottom. A large supply of wind would therefore push the entire curve to the right, resulting in falling market prices. Wind power provides financial savings, even though the directly related costs may be slightly higher than for the conventional technologies.

MORE THAN A DROP IN THE OCEAN

The climate challenge does not simply involve reducing CO2 emissions, but doing so in a sustainable manner, so that the problem is not just palmed off onto other areas. In this context, it is particularly relevant to focus on global supplies of clean drinking water, which, within a relatively short space of time, may become very scarce with serious consequences. This focus on water is very important, because a recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2007 concluded that “global warming will hit through water”, and that some of the major challenges to adaptation are related to water resources development and management.

Both nuclear power and conventional energy production (oil, coal and natural gas) consume gigantic volumes of clean drinking water. A report from The US Geological Survey has established that in 2000, electricity generation in the United States was the second largest consumption of clean water, exceeded only by agriculture. In fact, every single day, almost 515 billion litres of clean water were pumped up for thermoelectric cooling at American power plants.

So let us make it absolutely clear: wind turbines do not use even one drop of water when generating electricity.

NO WASTE FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS

Another significant consideration is the problem of waste. In this area, too, wind power is a natural choice for the simple reason that wind turbines generate no waste at all when producing electricity. In other words, there are no toxic or otherwise hazardous substances that need to be dealt with.

Taking a Vestas V90-3.0 MW onshore wind turbine as an example, as much as 80 per cent of the materials used can be recycled, when the turbine is scrapped at the end of its projected 20 year service life. During that period, this turbine will, from the perspective of a complete life cycle analysis, have ‘covered’ its own environmental impact more than 35 times.

ENERGY WITHOUT BORDERS OR LIMITATIONS

The argument that wind is a limitless resource should also carry a lot of weight today among both industrial and political decision makers. Taking into consideration the geopolitical events of recent years and the fact that most fossil energy resources are located in unstable regions of the world, it is obvious that greater independence of energy imports is a necessity for many countries, particularly in the western world. It is worth noting that the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) has calculated that wind power has the potential to cover one-fifth of Europe’s electricity requirements as early as 2030 – and this calculation even takes into account a 50 per cent rise in consumption.

That this is more than just figures and theory is proved by countries including Denmark, which already covers a fifth of its total energy requirements through wind power. What is more, Denmark does so by using less than 20 per cent of its actual wind resources. On very windy days, Denmark receives all its electricity from the country’s 5,000 wind turbines. It should interest every responsible politician to know that in its Survey of Energy Resources from 2004, the World Energy Council concluded that the world’s total consumption of electricity could be covered several times over by exploiting just one-tenth of the technical potential of the Earth’s wind resources.

WIND POWER IN A LONG TERM PERSPECTIVE

With the rapidly accelerating pace that has distinguished the development of wind technology, there is every reason to have great expectations for its role in the medium to long term. The EU, for example has a binding ambition to source 20 per cent of electricity from sustainable energy sources in 2020. In addition, China has also stated its intent to invest a tenth of its GDP in energy, so that 15 per cent of China’s energy supply can come from sustainable sources in 2020.

These ambitious visions mean that the total installed wind power capacity worldwide will need to increase from 75,000 MW in 2006 to 1,000,000 MW in 2020. This corresponds to average growth of 20 per cent per year; it is no exaggeration to claim that all indicators point to an industry that is still growing very strongly, if the political preconditions remain in place.

WHAT IS NEEDED FROM A CLIMATE POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE?

Continued expansion of wind power makes demands, not only on the wind power industry, but also on the politicians who are to help pave the way for an energy mix involving the lowest possible CO2 emissions and the greatest possible supply reliability.

Through the political implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, two means have already been adopted. Firstly, the EU has introduced a CO2 quota trading system intended to make it more expensive to generate energy that involves the emission of high volumes of CO2. Secondly, climate credits (Joint Implementation (JI) and Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)) have been introduced, so that companies and countries, on the basis of the principle that CO2 savings are good for the climate, no matter where in the world they are made, can choose to implement CO2 saving projects in countries where the associated costs are lower.

The leading player in the sector, Vestas Wind Systems, identifies three key areas that require the full attention of politicians in the important discussions and negotiations to come:

1. Energy prices should reflect the actual costs of a given form of energy. As long as they do not, supplementary regulation will be required to promote sustainable energy. A well functioning CO2 quota system could constitute part of the solution, but is unlikely to be sufficient on its own.
2. Regarding JI/CDM, the current system is costly and complicated and removing these barriers would enable more countries to host projects. The challenges that lie ahead are the following: to increase cooperation and communication between project developers, governments and UN bodies (CDM Executive Board, Methodology Panel and JI Supervisory Committee); to increase governmental support to these bodies; to ensure better criteria for methodology approval in the CDM; and to improve the harmonisation of national project approval procedures, in order to minimise the administrative burden – varying national requirements create barriers and prevent a well functioning CDM and JI system to develop.
   Moreover, not all countries have given sufficient financial backing to the numerous different institutions in the system, which has further limited the activities of the UN bodies and, therefore, hampered the success of the mechanisms.
3. Consideration should be given to financing options over and above the existing climate-political instruments, particularly in regions expected to undergo both large and energy intensive economic growth in the immediate future. Both the Stern Report and UN studies indicate that investment requirements over the coming 20–30 years will exceed the options that exist in the current flexible mechanisms in the area of climate issues. Banks and other financing institutions are reluctant to provide the necessary supplementary loan financing for climate projects.

A wider system allowing the active participation of more sectors in more countries should also be one of the top considerations in the design of a post-2012 framework. A more efficient system is needed to ensure the uptake of new, clean, and renewable power generating capacity – this is what will make a difference in the long term.

For references and further information about the article,
please contact Group Communications, tel: + 45 97 30 51 62, or e-mail: .

Organisation

Vestas installed its first wind turbine in 1979 and has since played an active role in the fast moving wind power industry. From being a pioneer in the industry with a staff of approximately 60 in 1987, it is today a global, market leading group with over 14,600 people employed. Vestas is the leading producer of high technological wind power solutions. The company’s core business includes development, manufacturing, sales, marketing and maintenance of wind power systems that use wind energy to produce electricity.

Enquiries

Vestas Wind Systems A/S
Alsvej 21, 8900 Randers, Denmark
Tel: +45 9730 0000 | Fax: +45 9730 0001
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