The wind energy industry in Europe dates back almost forty years, with the continent's first wind farm opening in 1982 on the Greek island of Kythnos. It had five turbines with a capacity of 20 kilowatts each. Almost 10 years later the world’s first offshore wind farm was erected off the coast of Denmark. The industry has come a long way since then. The
in Europe has seen steady growth over the past years, reaching more than 240 gigawatts in 2022.
Leading wind markets in Europe
Germany has by far the
highest wind power installed capacity in Europe at more than 66 gigawatts in 2022, followed by Spain and the
United Kingdom with roughly 29 gigawatts each. Regarding offshore wind installations, the UK is the leading market across Europe. In 2022, it reached an offshore wind capacity of 14 gigawatts, almost reaching the amount of installed onshore capacity in the country. Other European countries with a large offshore capacity in Europe include Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Belgium. In total,
offshore wind in Europe reached a capacity of 30 gigawatts in 2022.
Wind power generation in Europe
In 2022,
electricity generation from wind in the European Union amounted to roughly 420 terawatt hours, up from 385 terawatt hours a year earlier. Wind power is an important contributor to the continent's
energy mix and the main renewable energy source, recently overtaking hydropower. Furthermore, the European
wind industry employed over 188,000 people directly and over 100,000 indirectly in 2022, and
generated a revenue of more than eight billion euros that year, which included the activities of onshore and offshore wind developers, wind turbine and component manufacturers, service providers, and offshore wind substructures.
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Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date
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