Economics of Wind Power

Wind power is the world’s fastest-growing energy source and a vital part of mankind’s response to the global warming and security of future energy supplies.

According to Global Wind Energy Council GWEC the world’s wind power capacity grew over 20%, adding 35.8 GW to bring total installations up to 194 GW. These wind farms will produce 417TWh of clean electricity and save 250 million tons of CO2 every year. In Europe, Asia and the US, wind power is now the most attractive option for new power generation, both in economic and environmental terms, and for an improved supply security.

With feed-in-tariffs or green-certificate systems being in place in many countries, there is steady global demand for emission-free wind power that can be installed quickly and almost everywhere in the world. In contrast to other generation sources, the price for the fuel needed over the total lifetime of a wind turbine is well known: it is zero.

The wind industry also creates many new jobs: over 400,000 people are now employed in this industry, and that number is expected to be in the millions in the near future.