European Energy Giants Increase Renewable Energy Portfolios

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--European energy companies have reported significant progress in the growth of their renewable energy portfolios for 2009.

Germany's E.ON AG (OTC:EONGY) (Dusseldorf) showed the largest growth, reporting a 50% increase in energy generated from renewable sources in 2009. Danish energy company Dong Energy (Skaerbaek, Denmark) reported an 8% rise in renewable energy for the same period.

E.ON's annual report showed that renewable energy from hydro, wind, solar and biomass projects in Europe and North America topped 2,957 megawatts (MW) in 2009, up from 1,979 MW in 2008. Wind installations in the United States accounted for much of the growth, including the 782-MW Pyron Windfarm near Roscoe, Texas. Onshore wind played the largest role in E.ON's renewable surge. New windfarms in Spain and Portugal accounted for most of the company's European growth. E.ON's 180-MW Robin Riggs offshore windfarm in the U.K. started feeding electricity to the national grid in September. Overall, wind accounted for 96% of E.ON's Climate and Renewables portfolio, and according to E.ON CEO Wulf Bernotat, renewables will remain a key area in the company's future capacity growth.

"The current focus of our renewables investments is on expanding our wind capacity," explained Bernotat. "In the last two years, we've achieved unprecedented growth in wind power and have already become one of the world's largest wind power producers. In 2009, we established solar power as our second key renewables technology."

Between 2007 and 2009, the average size of E.ON's windfarms increased from 15 MW to 75 MW, while average turbine size grew from 1.4 MW to 1.9 MW. E.ON is on course to invest 8 billion euros ($11 billion) in renewables between 2007 and 2011 and has a goal of reaching 10 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity by 2015. E.ON completed its first solar photovoltaic (PV) farm in Le Lauzet in southern France in 2009 and is part of the ambitious Desertec project to build massive solar farms in North Africa to provide power for Europe. For additional information, see related article from June 19, 2009 - European Companies Plan $550 Billion Solar Project in Sahara Desert.

Meanwhile, Dong Energy reported that power from renewables grew 8% in 2009 to 2,810 gigawatt-hours. Renewables now account for 16% of Dong's energy mix. More than 40% of the company's investments in 2009 went toward renewable power projects, and five new windfarms were commissioned last year.

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