Ireland is far behind other EU member-states in developing wind power as an alternative energy source, according to figures released by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA).
Of the 4,500 megawatts (MW) of wind power generation added to European electricity grids last year, the Republic accounted for just seven megawatts - bringing its installed capacity up by 6 per cent to 125MW.
This still puts us on par with Portugal and ahead of Austria (94MW), France (78MW), Finland (39MW), Belgium (31MW) and Luxembourg (15MW), but way behind Germany (8,754MW), Spain (3,337MW) and Denmark (2,417MW).
It was "another record year for European wind power", according to the EWEA.
Altogether 4,500MW were added to electricity grids, increasing the total installed wind power capacity in the EU by more than 35 per cent to 17,000MW.
This will produce some 40 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually - enough to meet the consumption of 10 million average European households - and save 16 million tonnes of coal and 24 million tonnes of carbon-dioxide emissions.
Once again, Germany tops the list, boosting its wind power capacity by more than 43 per cent during 2001. Half of all the EU's wind power is now located in Germany, accounting for 3.5 per cent of the country's electricity consumption.
The wind power boom in Germany seems set to continue. A few days after the figures for 2001 were made public, the German government announced an ambitious plan to boost wind power's share to at least 25 per cent by 2025.
Most of this will come from offshore wind farms in the North Sea and Baltic Sea, generating up to 25,000MW.
Ireland is set to follow this example on a smaller scale with a foreshore licence already granted for Airtricity's plan to develop the State's first offshore wind farm on the Arklow banks, off the Co Wicklow coast, to generate up to 1,000MW of electricity.
With installed capacity in excess of 3,300 MW, Spain was the second largest European market for wind power last year.Denmark, which pioneered the technology, dropped to third place after recording an increase of just 5 per cent on 2000.
