The future of energy: the answer is blowing in the wind
After a year that has seen record levels of wind-generated electricity, along with substantial increases in capacity in virtually every country, and with renewables already taking a major role in power generation globally, the time has come to seize the opportunity to roll out even greater numbers of wind turbines.
Finland’s wind generation capacity increased by an impressive 75% in 2022, attracting billions in investment. The approval of new offshore floating wind turbine installations in California, has caught the attention of investors, with talk of a latter-day gold rush.
A plethora of technological improvements and innovation has put the spotlight on wind power generation, which is also increasingly safe for birdlife. Ideas such as turbines that bend like palm trees in hurricanes, or giant wind turbines the size of 70-story skyscrapers indicate how big these structures can become as their efficiency improves; and also how extensive wind farms can be: China has just broken its record, and now plans to build the world’s largest offshore wind farm, capable of generating energy for 13 million homes: more electricity than all the power plants in Norway put together.
What’s missing in all this is extending wind generation to homes. Contrary to solar energy, where the development of new plants on an…
