Wind power in Italy
Encyclopedia
Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 ranked as the world’s sixth largest producer of wind power
Wind power
Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form of energy, such as using wind turbines to make electricity, windmills for mechanical power, windpumps for water pumping or drainage, or sails to propel ships....

 with an installed nameplate capacity
Nameplate capacity
Nameplate capacity, also known as the rated capacity, nominal capacity, installed capacity or maximum effect, refers to the intended technical full–load sustained output of a facility such as a power plant, a chemical plant, fuel plant, metal refinery, mine, and many others.For dispatchable power,...

 of 3,736 GW in 2008, behind India
Wind power in India
The development of wind power in India began in the 1990s, and has significantly increased in the last few years. Although a relative newcomer to the wind industry compared with Denmark or the US, India has the fifth largest installed wind power capacity in the world...

 and ahead of France
Wind power in France
France has the third largest wind resource in Europe after Germany and the United Kingdom. Électricité de France, the main French electricity generator and supplier in France plans to increase its capacity to 10 GW in the year 2010....

 and the United Kingdom
Wind power in the United Kingdom
By mid-2011, the installed capacity of wind power in the United Kingdom was over 5.7 gigawatts and the UK is ranked as the world’s eighth largest producer of wind power. Wind power is expected to continue growing in the UK for the foreseeable future, RenewableUK estimates that more than...

.

Overview

In 2001, the European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....

 issued its Directive on Electricity Production from Renewable Energy Sources
Directive on Electricity Production from Renewable Energy Sources
The Directive on Electricity Production from Renewable Energy Sources is a European Union directive for promoting renewable energy use in electricity generation. It is officially named 2001/77/EC and popularly known as the RES Directive....

. The Directive set a goal for Italy to obtain at least 25% of its electricity from renewables
Renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable . About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from...

 by 2010. The 1999 Italian ‘White Book’ targeted to install 2,500 MW of wind power capacity by 2010; Italy exceeded this in 2007. The Italian government targeted 12,000 MW by 2020. Given that Italy's recent growth in wind power capacity has been about 30% annually, the target appears reachable by 2015. Italy introduced a renewable energy quota system in 2002, and uses green certificate
Green certificate
A Green Certificate - terminology used in Europe - also known as Renewable Energy Certificates in the USA, are a tradable commodity proving that certain electricity is generated using renewable energy sources. Typically one certificate represents generation of 1 Megawatthour of electricity...

s to ensure that power producers and importers produce specified percentages of electricity from renewables. Renewable energy under the quota system must come from new or repowered plants which began operating after April 1, 1999.

Installed capacity growth

The table shows the annual increase in installed wind power capacity in recent years.
Year Nameplate capacity
Nameplate capacity
Nameplate capacity, also known as the rated capacity, nominal capacity, installed capacity or maximum effect, refers to the intended technical full–load sustained output of a facility such as a power plant, a chemical plant, fuel plant, metal refinery, mine, and many others.For dispatchable power,...

 (MW)
2000 427
2001 690
2002 797
2003 913
2004 1.255
2005 1.718
2006 2.123
2007 2.726
2008 3.736
2009 4.850
2010 5.797

See also

  • Energy in Italy
    Energy in Italy
    Energy in Italy describes energy and electricity production, consumption and import in Italy. Energy policy of Italy will describe more in detail the politics of Italy related to energy. Electricity sector in Italy is the main article of electricity in Italy....

  • European Wind Energy Association
    European Wind Energy Association
    The European Wind Energy Association is an association based in Brussels, promoting the use of wind power in Europe. It has over 600 members from nearly 60 countries including manufacturers with a 90% share of the world wind power market, component suppliers, research institutes, national wind and...

  • Global Wind Energy Council
    Global Wind Energy Council
    The Global Wind Energy Council was established in 2005 to provide a credible and representative forum for the entire wind energy sector at an international level...

  • Wind power in the European Union
    Wind power in the European Union
    According to the European Wind Energy Association report of February 2011, there are over 12,000 wind turbines in Europe with a total capacity of 84 GW. The European Union accounts for over 98% of that total. In 2010, €12.7 billion was invested in EU wind farms and 9.3 GW of new power capacity was...


External links

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