Wind Can Provide 24-50% of India and China’s Power Needs (by 2030)

September 14, 2009

Wind Can Provide 24-50% of India and China’s Power Needs

If India and China continue their forward momentum in renewable energy investments, wind energy may be able to supply up to 24 percent and 50 percent of their electricity needs, respectively, by 2030, according to two separate studies.

India may be able to generate almost five times more wind energy capacity than the government’s estimate by 2030, due to offshore wind resources, according to a study by the Global World Energy Council, reports Bloomberg News.

The study, Wind Energy Outlook 2009, also indicates that wind energy can provide up to 24 percent of India’s power needs by 2030, while creating 213,000 green jobs and cutting 5.5 billion tons of CO2 emissions.

Wind energy capacity may reach 241,000 megawatts (MW) in India, based on a best-case scenario, compared with the government’s forecast of 48,000 MW from 216 potential sites, according to the study, produced in partnership with the Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association, according to Bloomberg News.

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For Immediate Release
May 12, 2008

Wind Energy Could Produce 20 Percent of U.S. Electricity By 2030

DOE Report Analyzes U.S. Wind Resources, Technology Requirements, and Manufacturing, Siting and Transmission Hurdles to Increasing the Use of Clean and Sustainable Wind Power

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S Department of Energy (DOE) today released a first-of-its kind report that examines the technical feasibility of harnessing wind power to provide up to 20 percent of the nation’s total electricity needs by 2030. Entitled “20 Percent Wind Energy by 2030”, the report identifies requirements to achieve this goal including reducing the cost of wind technologies, citing new transmission infrastructure, and enhancing domestic manufacturing capability. Most notably, the report identifies opportunities for 7.6 cumulative gigatons of CO2 to be avoided by 2030, saving 825 million metric tons in 2030 and every year thereafter if wind energy achieves 20 percent of the nation’s electricity mix. As part of President Bush’s Advanced Energy Initiative announced in 2006, clean, secure and sustainable wind energy has the potential to play an increasingly important role in the Bush Administration’s long-term energy strategy to make investments today to fundamentally change the way we power U.S. homes and businesses and to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions growth by 2025.

“DOE’s wind report is a thorough look at America’s wind resource, its industrial capabilities, and future energy prices, and confirms the viability and commercial maturity of wind as a major contributor to America’s energy needs, now and in the future,” DOE Assistant Secretary of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy for the U.S. Department of Energy Andy Karsner, said. “To dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance our energy security, clean power generation at the gigawatt-scale will be necessary, and will require us to take a comprehensive approach to scaling renewable wind power, streamlining siting and permitting processes, and expanding the domestic wind manufacturing base.”

Prepared by the U.S. Department of Energy and a broad cross section of stakeholders across industry, government, and three of DOE’s national laboratories - the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, CO; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, CA; and Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, NM, the report presents an in-depth analysis of the potential for wind in the U.S. and outlines a potential scenario to boost wind electric generation from its current production of 16.8 gigawatts (GW) to 304 GW by 2030. For its technical report, DOE also drew on the expertise of the American Wind Energy Association and Black and Veatch engineering consultants and the report reflects input from more than fifty energy organizations and corporations.

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