A report published by EWEA to mark the launch of its 2012 conference in Copenhagen has projected that by 2020, the industry will contribute EUR95.4 billion to the GDP of the 27 EU's member states.
This would represent a three-fold increase on the EUR32.4 billion contribution it made in 2010, EWEA said.
The organisation said that by 2020 the industry would also employ more than double the number of workers than in 2010 – up from 238,154 to an estimated 520,000.
EWEA president Arthouros Zervos said: "Wind energy is countering the recession – providing increasing economic activity, more jobs and exports every year to an EU struggling with an economic crisis intensified by ever increasing amounts of fuel being imported at rising costs to European citizens."
But EWEA said EU member states would need to create the right conditions to encourage this growth, including stable national renewable energy frameworks, post-2020 energy policies with binding targets for renewable energy up to 2030 and a joined up European power grid and energy market.
EWEA’s report, Green Growth – The Impact of Wind Energy on Jobs and the Economy is available
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