EU support for wind energy

Funding research

Since 1998 the EU has funded more than 40 projects on wind energy with a total contribution of more than EUR 60 million since 2002.

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These projects advanced knowledge in:

  • Components and systems for turbines and farms;
  • Integration of wind power into the grid;
  • Wind resources forecasting;
  • Demonstration of large scale systems for on- and off-shore wind farms;

Between 1998-2002 (FP5) the EU funded a number of smaller projects that dealt with a great variety of topics. Building up on these projects, larger projects were funded between 2002-2006 (FP6) that brought together a great number of participants and addressed more ambitious challenges. A perfect example of this approach is the project UPWIND, that aims at making very large wind turbines (mainly for off-shore applications), brings together more than 40 leading organisations in wind energy field and received a record EC contribution of more than EUR 14 million. Since 2007 (FP7) the EU concentrated it support on improving reliability of wind turbines, wind predictability and the integration of off-shore wind platforms with the grid and other purposes (for example wave energy).

Since 2002 (start of FP6) more than EUR 110 million of funding has been provided to more than 30 R&D and demonstration activities, covering a diverse range of technologies including:

Current funding opportunities

Wind energy is one of the priorities of the current Framework Programme (FP7). For more information on current open topics please click here.

 

Research projects

Results

Results and description of EU funded research projects on wind energy can be found

 

Examples of EU funded projects

UPWIND - Integrated Wind Turbine Design

The ambitious growth targets of the wind power industry require that very large wind turbines are installed off-shore (in so-called 'wind parks'). But environmental conditions off-shore are very challenging, thus the wind turbines of the future necessitate the re-evaluation of the turbine itself.

The aim of UPWIND is to develop the accurate, verified tools and component concepts the industry needs to design and manufacture this new type of turbine.

The UpWind consortium, composed of 40 partners, brings together the most advanced European specialists of the wind industry. The project costs reach over EUR 22 million, of which the EU contributes more than EUR 14 under FP6. The project runs from March 2006 until February 2011.

More information can be found on the project website.

 

SAFEWIND - Multi-scale data assimilation, advanced wind modeling and forecasting

The integration of wind generation into power systems is difficult as the power output of wind farms depends on the wind. In the last 15 years, tools have been developed to forecast wind power but they are not yet sufficient reliable. This is the case especially for extreme weather conditions. Large forecasting errors, often due to extreme weather conditions, are very costly for infrastructures and reduce the value of wind energy for end-users.

The aim of this project is to substantially improve wind power predictability in challenging or extreme situations and at different temporal and spatial scales.

More than 20 organisations joined forces in this project that runs from September 2008 until August 2012. The total costs of the project are around EUR 5.5 million, of which the EU contributes almost EUR 4 million.

More information can be found on the project website.

 

Working together

Workers inside a wind turbine.

The EU encouraged the different actors active in wind energy to join forces in the Wind Technology Platform (TPWind) and develop a common vision that can jointly be implemented. Launched officially in October 2006 the Platform has already agreed on a common Vision Paper outlining the future of wind energy. On the basis of this vision a Strategic Research Agenda as well as a Market Deployment Strategy has been established that define important milestones to be achieved until 2030.

The Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan) aims at upgrading the cooperation of stakeholder in wind energy by proposing to create a European Wind Initiative. This initiative strives for strengthening industrial energy research and innovation by aligning the efforts of the Community, Member States and industry. Thus the necessary critical mass of activities and actors should be mobilised. The concrete targets of the initiative are to accelerate the reduction of costs, increasingly move offshore and resolve the associated grid integration issues. If these issues can be solved the initiative envisages that wind energy can contribute up to 20% of the total European electricity consumption by 2020 and that more than 250.000 skilled jobs can be created.

On a global level the EU is engaged in the Implementing Agreement on wind energy of the International Energy Agency (IEA).

 

Read more about how wind energy works and what are its prospects for the future.

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