According to stats released by EWEA, more wind power capacity was installed in Europe during 2009, than any other renewable energy technology. About 39% of installed renewable energy capacity was wind, followed by natural gas with 26% and 16% from solar PV capacity. Combined, renewables accounted for 61% of the total new installed power generating capacity in 2009.
In financial terms, wind farms in 2009 were at EUR 13 billion in investments, of which EUR 1.3 billion for offshore facilities. About 10 GW were installed across the EU, which is a 23% increase over 2008. This amount is made up of 9.5 GW of onshore and about 582 MW of offshore capacity.
This is the second year that wind capacity has surpassed all other renewables in terms of installled capacity, which shows that the wind energy industry has gained momentum. Together with other clean(er) energy technologies, it has contributed to economic recovery and the creation of jobs.
Broken down according to countries, Spain leads with 2459 MW of new wind capacity (24%), then Germany with 1917 MW (19%), Italy 1114 MW (11%), France 1088 MW (11%) and the UK with 1077 MW (10%). This brings the total of installed wind energy capacity in EU to almost 75 GW, with Germany still in the lead in terms of the total amount of capacity installed.
See the statistics in way more detail here.
