"Last year saw huge growth in world’s wind turbine generation increasing by 26.6% to nearly 100,000MW and saving 200 million tonnes of CO2 emissions", the Senior Vice-President of the World Wind Energy Association, Peter Rae, said in Launceston.

In releasing the Association’s world statistics for wind for 2007, Mr Rae said he was saddened to see that Australia has continued to fall behind. "Hopefully this is about to change with the bipartisan support for climate change measures to be revived at a Federal level", he said.
 
Wind energy provides the electricity for the homes of about 100 million people in 70 countries and along with hydro, solar, biomass, geothermal and other renewables provides nearly 20% of the world’s electricity.
 
Renewable energy can provide the greenhouse gas free energy which the world needs to combat climate change. It is doing so at increasingly competitive prices with hydro and wind already more than competitive with gas in many parts of the world and cheaper than nuclear or coal produced at lower pollution levels.
 
"In Australia it is good to see that after the industry stalled and the manufacturing and assembly capacity was lost following the capping of MRET that there is now considerable activity in reviving the local industry", Peter Rae said.
 
He welcomed the prospect of the new multi-party support at a Federal and State level for the rapid deployment of renewable energy capacity to maximize the use of Australia’s vast resources of wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and ocean energy as well as the maximizing of our existing and potential hydro.
 
"It is all there – we can add greenhouse gas free generation at increasingly competitive prices.  As Professor Garnaut proceeds with his review he can be assured that the renewables industry can provide the means to achieve his announced objective", Peter Rae said.
 
However the WWEA is very concerned over the limitations in world manufacturing capacity for wind turbines.
 
"This is a major constraint on growth and requires the attention of governments and the public to find out why there is not a more rapid expansion. Is it being choked by undue constraints or restrictions from one source or another?" Mr Rae asked.
 
He added: "When I was invited to address the European Parliament in Brussels last year on issues related to the growth of wind farming I pointed to this as a major issue.  These latest figures more than adequately confirm our concerns."
 
"I shall be raising this at the meeting of government and industry leaders in Washington (WIREC) at the beginning of next month.
 
Those constraints mean that there are often long delays between order and supply. The causes must be identified and a program adopted to overcome them."
 
Footnote
Peter Rae is the former chairman of Australia’s largest renewable energy generator and of the Renewable Energy Generators of Australia association.  He is currently the chairman of the International Renewable Energy Alliance comprising the four major world associations for hydro, wind, solar and geothermal.  He is also a member of the Steering Committee of REN21 setup after the Bonn Renewable Energies Declaration in 2004.

Source:
Peter Rae 2008
WWEA 2008