A recent scenario analysis produced by Emerging Energy Research (EER) on behalf of Vestas concludes that based on economic and risk analyses of power generation, wind power can no longer be marginalised in the energy mix.
The analysis reached the following conclusions:
- In a world that needs to limit CO2 emissions, wind power can compete with several conventional energy technologies for the production of electricity depending on the price of CO2 emissions. The EER’s analysis sets the price of CO2 emissions at EUR 30 per metric tonnes.
- Much of the generation capacity currently used in Europe is over 20 years old and therefore fully depreciated. This analysis is interesting because it makes an equal comparison between new wind power plants and new conventional power plants.
All in all, wind power is an excellent supplement to conventional energy sources: it increases the electricity supply and produces little or no CO2 emissions and is an inexhaustible local resource.