Wind energy farms set new record in 2019

Wind energy output in Greece soared to new records in 2019, with more new wind energy farms launching operations than in any other year, the Hellenic Wind Energy Association (HWEA/ELETAEN) said in a report released on Thursday.

The increase was almost four times the annual average rate of the previous decade, raising the total power of wind farms to more than 3,500 megawatts last year.

HWEA said the new wind energy farms coming online had a total power of 727.5 MW, four times more than the annual average rate of the previous decade (185 MW), with the biggest single wind energy farm operating in southern Evia (154.1 MW). 

Public Power Corporation (PPC) completed the repowering of the first seven wind energy farms, with a significant reduction in the number of wind turbines (from 62 to 15).

In Kozani, wind turbines have the largest rotor diameter (136 meters), while the first hybrid power station using wind energy and batteries started operating on the island of Tilos.

A hybrid station also began pilot operations on the island of Ikaria.

At the end of 2019, wind energy farms’ power totaled 3,576 MW, up 25.4 percent from 2018. Foreign investors owned 43 percent of wind energy farms in Greece and accounted for 47 percent of new investments in 2019.

Central Greece remained at the top in terms of wind energy farms, with total power of 1,311 MW (36.7 pct), followed by the Peloponnese (587 MW, or 16.4 pct) and East Macedonia-Thrace (446 MW or 13 pct).

The top five players in the market were: Terna Energy (554.1 MW or 15.5 pct), El.Tech. Anemos – Ellaktor (397.5 MW or 11.1 pct), Enel Green Power (354.6 MW or 9.9 pct), EREN (268.5 MW or 7.5 pct) and Iberdrola Rokas (254.7 MW or 7.1 pct).

The top suppliers were Vestas (46.6 pct), Enercon (25.1 pct), Siemens Gamesa (17.8 pct), Nordex (5.3 pct) and GE Renewables (3.9 pct).