Germany & Denmark Join Britain In Smashing Wind Energy Records

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The UK smashed wind energy records in 2014, according to figures provided earlier this week, but it wasn’t the only one — Denmark and Germany also released wind energy production figures, with both countries setting impressive new records of their own.

According to the IWR renewable-energy research institute (by way of Bloomberg, who translated the available information from Germany better than I can convince myself I can), Germany produced 8.9 TWh of wind energy in December. That’s a record for Germany, but in an email, IWR predicted that those numbers will tumble in 2015, as a number of offshore wind projects are set to be brought online.

Denmark, on the other hand, had an astonishing year overall, with wind generating 39.1% of all its electricity needs for 2014, a figure which has more than doubled since 2004, when wind accounted for 18.8%.

“We will definitely hit our 2020 goals, said Climate Minister Rasmus Helveg Petersen, speaking to broadcaster DR (by way of The Local dk). “We have set a one-of-a-kind world record. And it shows that we can reach our ultimate goal, namely to stop global warming,”

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The news came only a few days after British figures from National Grid showed that wind energy generated enough electricity for 6.7 million Britons. Specifically, that’s 28.1 TWh for the year from wind alone, a 15% increase on 2013.

“It’s great to start 2015 with some good news about the massive quantities of clean electricity we’re now generating from wind, with new records being set month after month, quarter after quarter, and year on year, as we increase our capacity to harness one of Britain’s best natural resources,” said RenewableUK’s Deputy Chief Executive Maf Smith.