Climate Change BLOG / Klimaatverandering BLOG

www.klimaatverandering.info Web log about Climate Change, sometimes in Dutch.

04 december 2006

Windmolens zijn schaars

"There is an inexhaustible supply of wind to drive their blades, but materials needed to make wind turbines are limited and the industry fears it will fail to keep pace with growing demand for the clean energy source.

"We do whatever we can but it's impossible to increase our (production) capacity overnight," a spokesman for the Danish group Vestas told AFP.

"There is a gap between industrial capacity and demand, and it will take several years before we can fill the gap. Don't expect miracles," Peter Wenzel Kruze added

Between 1995 and 2005 the amount of electricity produced using wind power grew on average by 32 percent per year in Europe while the number of wind turbines rose by around 22 percent.

Similar growth in the sector has been recorded in the United States where wind power production expanded by 36 percent in 2005 with the help of federal funding.

A number of countries have announced plans for major wind farm programmes both on land and at sea. The rush to wind power has proved a boom for the industry in the shape of lucrative contracts but it has also caused problems for companies as they struggle to meet multiplying deadlines."

Bron: www.wbcsd.org