Germany and Spain will provide Europe’s biggest growth in windpower over the next decade but Britain and Italy might give the best returns on investment, the head of the European Wind Energy Association said on Friday.

‘We believe Germany and Spain will continue to be the two biggest markets in terms of new wind capacity in the next 12 years, with the UK and France right behind them, then Italy,’ EWEA chief executive Christian Kjaer told reporters.

EWEA forecast in a report launched on Friday that 25.1 gigawatts of wind capacity would be installed in Germany between 2009 and 2020, 23.3 gigawatts in Spain, 22.8 in Britain and 19.6 in France.

But the support mechanisms for renewable energy in Britain and Italy generate the most favourable returns for large-scale investments.

‘If I could get planning permission, I would invest in onshore wind energy in the UK or Italy,’ Kjaer said. ‘Both pay very good prices per kilowatt hour.’ ‘That said, there is more uncertainty than in countries such as Germany and France where you’d know your income for the next 20 years, because of the feed-in tariffs. So, if I’d burned my fingers in the financial crisis, I’d put my money in France or Germany.’

Wind power provides a greater share of national electricity in Denmark than any other European Union country, at 20.3 per cent, the report showed, followed by Spain at 12.3 per cent and Portugal at 11.4. Britain and France take 9th and 12th place, largely because their complex planning regulations have hampered the growth of the windpower market so far.
 

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