Recession cuts EU carbon emissions whilst wind energy booms

Researchers have successfully connected large groups of wind farms in Europe as the continent reacts to a surprise revelation: that carbon emissions actually fell during the global recession.

Figures show that total carbon output from European countries was down considerably during the 2008-2009 periods than in previous years, undoubtedly due to the worldwide financial crisis. The closing of businesses and industries, and the consequent reduction in fossil fuel consumption, has been felt all over the world. However, only now have official figures been released that show just how dramatic the changes in carbon emissions have been.

Countries in Europe that were the worst hit by the economic slowdown have shown the greatest decrease in fossil fuel consumption, with Estonia’s 24 per cent decline in emissions being the biggest fall. Romania, Italy, Spain and the UK all also experienced significant reductions in carbon emissions, ranging from 22 per cent to 13 per cent respectively. The fall in emissions means that EU member states now have surplus carbon allowances; the credits granted to EU nations, which they can now bank for future use or sell on the open market.

The statistics are good news for the European Union, whose Target 2020 plan outlines that one fifth of EU member states’ electricity must be gathered from renewable sources by 2020 in the hope that carbon emissions will eventually be wiped out completely. One of the main forms of renewable energy, wind power, is experiencing a boom according to the German Wind Energy Association.

The German Renewable Energy Federation predicts that by 2020, 47 per cent of our total power consumption – estimated at around 595 terawatt hours – will be provided by renewable energy sources, with wind energy accounting for around one quarter. The recently completed Wind On The Grid project, one of the EU’s biggest network integration projects, has pioneered the integration of renewable energy generation into the power grid. Fraunhofer’s Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology (IWES) made its Wind Farm Cluster Management System (WCMS) and its Wind Power Management System available for the project, allowing researchers to use the software packages to integrate a number of wind farms in Portugal and Spain into the existing power grid.

“We used the WCMS to link the scattered wind farms in a cluster, enabling them to be controlled by the central control station of the Portuguese and Spanish power utilities respectively,” explains Dr. Kurt Rohrig, department head at the Kassel branch of the IWES. “While the WCMS keeps both the frequency and the voltage of the electricity grid constant, thus ensuring safe operation, Fraunhofer's Wind Power Management System forecasting software uses artificial neural networks to calculate expected wind energy on the basis of predicted weather patterns.”

The benefits of connecting wind farms in clusters include a better ability to balance out fluctuations in wind force and lower energy prices due to a greater number of facilities. Dr Rohrig predicts that the price of wind-generated power could eventually be around four cents per kilowatt-hour, down from today’s seven cents. “In the long term, wind farms will replace traditional power plants,” predicts Dr Rohrig.

To find out more about Fraunhofer, visit their website. Further information on the European Union’s Target 2020 plan can be found on the EU website.

Published: Friday, 9th April 2010 by Tom Freeman

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