Assessment of the global and regional geographical, technical and economic potential of onshore wind energy

The regional and global geographical, technical and economic potential of onshore wind energy is assessed using a grid cell approach. For the economic potential, the regional cost–supply curves of wind electricity are presented. The global technical potential of wind electricity is estimated to be 96 PWh year-1: about 6–7 times the present (2001) world electricity consumption at cut-off costs of about 1 US$ kWh-1. To realise this potential, an area of 1.1 Gha is required when the wind turbines are installed at an average power density of 4 MW km-2. This is similar to the total global grassland area or to an area with the size of about China. The regionally highest technical potential of onshore wind energy is found for USA: 21 PWh year-1. Lowest figures are found for South East Asia, Southern and Western Africa and Japan. With present day technology, roughly an amount equal to the present (2001) world electricity consumption can be generated at a cost of 0.07 US$ kWh-1 and below, mainly in Canada, USA, South America, OECD Europe and the former USSR.