Ireland ranked fourth in the world for wind power

Ireland now ranks fourth in the world for the contribution of wind energy to electricity use, according to the International Energy Agency's 2008 Wind Energy Annual Report.

Ireland, which supplies 8.7% of electricity demand from wind, is only behind Denmark (19.3%), Spain (11.7%) and Portugal (11.3%).

Key highlights for Ireland from the report show that the contribution of wind energy to electricity demand in Ireland increased from 6.8% in 2007 to 8.7% in 2008, and that installed wind power capacity in Ireland increased by 26% from 794MW to 1002MW.

The report also shows that electrical output from wind increased by 29% worldwide - enough to cover the equivalent of the total electrical consumption of Australia.

 “Today’s announcement is further proof that Ireland is well on target to meeting our national renewable electricity target of 15% by 2010," said Professor Owen Lewis of Sustainable Energy Ireland.

"The national and worldwide statistics demonstrate Ireland’s commitment to meeting the targets for renewable energy and that wind power has and will continue to establish itself as a major source of electricity. We look forward to Ireland increasing its rankings in the years to come.”

SEI, which represents Ireland on the IEA Wind Implementing Agreement, contributed to the report along with other IEA member countries. 

The report highlights the significant growth in the contribution of wind energy to world electricity supply. In 2008, 17GW of new wind energy generating capacity, or an additional 23%, was built in IEA Wind member countries bringing the total installed capacity to almost 92GW.

The IEA Wind Energy Report is available here .