According to the recently published statistics document by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), Europe is looking at a record breaking year for wind energy capacity installations in Europe. The first half of 2010 has resulted in 118 offshore wind turbines getting connected to the power grid, totalling in 333 MW of capacity. This is already more than half of the total offshore capacity installed in 2009. Another 151 wind turbines (440 MW in total) were installed, although not yet connected to the power grid.
Sixteen offshore wind farms were under construction in the first half of 2010, representing 3972 MW of capacity in total. Of these wind farms, four became operational. These are Robin Rigg (UK), Alpha Ventus (Germany), Gunfleet Sands (UK) and Poseidon (Denmark).
The developers that contributed the most with their projects are E.ON (64%), DONG Energy (21%) and Vattenfall (11%). Looking at wind turbine manufacturers, Siemens takes the lead in the first half of 2010 with 55% of total installed turbines ensuring leadership position for the company, while Vestas (36%) and REpower (9%) trail behind.
