In our country the ANEV is the association of environmental protection (recognized pursuant to Law no. 349 of 8 July 1986) established in July 2002 which brings together around 70 companies operating in the wind sector.
ANEV is a member of Confindustria Energia and is the Italian Association present on the Management Board of the corresponding European and World associations such as WWEA – GWEC – EWEA as well as joining UNI – CEI-AIEE. Among the aims of the Association is to contribute to the promotion and use of the wind source in a balanced relationship between settlements and nature , as well as to promote research and technological development aimed at the use of the wind resource and the rational use of energy, as well as the dissemination of correct information based on real data.
Wind energy represented 51% of the new installed capacity in 2016 in Europe , connecting a total of 12.5 GW to the network , distributed among the 28 EU Member States, of which 10,923 MW on-shore and 1,567 MW off- shore.
The total installed wind capacity in Europe today stands at 153.7 GW. Wind energy covered 10.4% of electricity needs last year. Germany has installed the largest share of new wind energy, or 44% of the EU total. Five member states reached the record year: France, the Netherlands, Finland, Ireland and Lithuania. All the Renewables together have added 86% of new installed power in 2016 – 21.1 GW out of 24.5 GW. In Italy only 282.5 MW installed, equal to an investment flow of over 350 million euros.
Investments in new on-shore and off-shore wind farms reached a record € 27.5 billion. The offshore wind has increased by 39% every year to reach 18.2 billion euros, while for on-shore investments have decreased by 29% reaching 9.3 billion euros.
Wind energy in the world and in the future
In 2010 more than half of all new wind power was installed outside the traditional European and North American markets. This is linked in particular to the strong growth of installations in China that represented almost half of the new wind plants (16.5 GW).
The figures provided by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) show that in 2007 there was an increase in installed power of 20 GW, bringing the total installed wind power capacity to 94 GW, compared to 74 GW in 2006. Despite the constraints faced by the wind turbine production industries, the annual market continued to grow at an estimated rate of 37% , after a 32% growth in 2006. In terms of economic value, the wind sector has become one of the main players of energy markets, with a total value of new equipment installed in 2007 of 36 billion dollars.