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Further evidence of the growing appeal of wind energy as an alternative to fossil fuels can be seen in its phenomenal growth in Europe over the last decade.

From 1995 to 2005, total wind power capacity in the European Union has increased by an average of 32 percent per year, according to the European Wind Energy Association.

"With the installation of a record 6,183 megawatts in 2005, wind energy has achieved the European Commission's 40,000 MW target for 2010, five years ahead of time, said Professor Arthouros Zervos, president of EWEA. "This underlines the technology's ability to deliver fast and vast amounts of clean energy."

The photo shows a maintenance boat and sailboat passing through the 72-turbine wind farm off Nysted, Denmark last May, during the fact-finding trip organized by Clean Power Now.Although there are still many barriers to wind energy development in Europe, the figures show a healthy underlying trend in the market, Zervos said.

"The sector is gradually becoming less reliant on a few key markets in Europe. That trend is even stronger when we look at the global market for wind energy in 2005, with more countries significantly increasing investments in wind power technology, not least USA and India," Zervos said.

The top five European wind energy markets in 2005 were Germany (1,808 MW), Spain (1,764 MW), Portugal (500 MW), Italy (452 MW) and the UK (446 MW). In cumulative installed capacity, two countries have more than 10 gigawatts (one billion watts) - Germany, 18,428 MW, and Spain 10,027 MW, and seven countries have more than 1 GW - Denmark 3,122 MW, Italy 1,717 MW, UK 1,353 MW, Netherlands 1,219 MW and Portugal 1,022 MW, as well as Germany and Spain.

In an average wind year, the 40,504 MW installed in the European Union by the end of 2005 will produce some 83 terra watt-hours (TWh) of electricity, equal to 2.8% of EU electricity consumption in 2004.