ind energy outpaced all other forms of new electricity-generating capacity built in the European Union in 2008, the European Wind Energy Association said in a report released in March. A total of 23,851 megawatts (MW) of new power capacity was constructed in the EU last year. Of this, 8,484 MW (36 percent) was wind power, 6,932 MW (29 percent) was gas, 4,200 MW (18 percent) was solar, 2,495 MW (10 percent) was oil, 762 MW (3 percent) was coal, 473 MW (2 percent) was hydro and 60 MW (0.3 percent) was nuclear power.
      The EWEA reports that an average of 20 wind turbines were installed in the EU every working day during 2008. A total of 64,935 MW of installed wind energy capacity was operating in the EU by the end of 2008, 15 percent higher than in 2007. The EWEA says wind power employed 160,000 people directly and indirectly in Europe in 2008.
      Germany (23,903 MW) and Spain (16,740 MW) lead other EU members by far in terms of installed capacity. Eight other countries in Western Europe have more than 1,000 MW. New members of the EU also added capacity in 2008. Hungary doubled its capacity to 127 MW and Bulgaria tripled its capacity from 57 MW to 158 MW. Poland, one of the fastest growing younger markets, now has 472 MW, up from 276 MW. Outside the EU, Turkey tripled its wind energy capacity from 147 MW to 433 MW.
      Adding to those figures in 2009 is a project recently completed by Germany-based REpower Systems. The project is the first wind farm consisting exclusively of the company's 6-MW turbines, which are designed for offshore operations. Three turbines, among the world's largest, have been installed at the Westre civic wind farm near the Germany-Denmark border. The turbines will be tested for offshore operation. REpower Systems has a contract with German energy supplier RWE Innogy to deliver up to 250 of the large turbines for an offshore wind farm in the North Sea.
      Wind equipment manufacturing capacity is also on the rise in Europe. Danish wind turbine blade specialist LM Glasfiber officially opened its new blade factory in GoleniÛw, Poland, in early March. The factory will supply blades for onshore and offshore wind farms in the northern, central and eastern parts of Europe.
      The facility is the 14th LM Glasfiber factory worldwide and the fourth in Northern Europe. It will employ about 380 in its initial phase. erman solar module manufacturer Solar-Fabrik has opened a new factory in Freiburg, in the state of Baden-W¸rttemberg in southern Germany. The facility increases production at the site by 60 MW to a total of 130 MW.
      "Almost the entire production volume for the year was already sold at the beginning of 2009," said G¸nter Weinberger, Solar-Fabrik's CEO. "With the new factory, we are able to meet our customers' growing demand for quality modules. The high degree of automation increases the efficiency and the productivity, and enables the quality standards to be increased even further."
      The new 161,550-sq.-ft. (15,000-sq.-m.) facility in Freiburg's Hochdorf industrial estate will create 60-70 jobs. The company plans another expansion at the site in 2010. The factory will feature automated handling of solar cells to reduce the breakage rate.
      Solar-Fabrik AG says its facility is Europe's only zero-emission factory for solar modules to run exclusively on renewable energy. aris-based contact center and business process outsourcing (BPO) company Teleperformance says an expansion by its U.K. subsidiary will create 610 jobs at its base in Newry, Northern Ireland. The expansion will bring the company to nearly 2,000 people at its Northern Ireland sites in Newry and Bangor. The company opened its Bangor center in 1997 and added the Newry facility a decade later.
      "With the demand for outsourcing increasing as companies look for more cost-effective methods of managing key business activities, we identified a need for a major expansion at one of our U.K. sites which would support the development of new business opportunities across Europe," said Jeff Smith, chairman and chief executive of Teleperformance.
      India-based BPO firm Genpact opened an operations center in Lublin, the largest city in eastern Poland, in March. It is Genpact's seventh European center.
      "Lublin's diverse population offers a unique opportunity to provide a comprehensive suite of services in Polish, Czech, Slovak, and Russian, increasing our overall language capabilities by upwards of 20 percent," said Patrick Cogny, CEO of Genpact Europe. "This new facility is a welcome addition to Genpact's multilingual centers in Romania and Hungary, and will strengthen our ability to deliver integrated, pan-European solutions to our clients."
      Genpact says its decision to launch operations in Lublin was due in large part to the area's cultural makeup, as well as its proximity to several major universities. The company says the city offers a diverse pool of professionals with backgrounds in finance and accounting services, and with managerial experience, many of whom can serve clients in multiple languages.
      Genpact's European operations also include centers in Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Budapest, Hungary; Rotterdam, the Netherlands; and Madrid and Seville, Spain; with its sales and marketing office in London. Worldwide, Genpact has more than 35 operations centers and employs more than 36,000 in 12 countries.
      Another India-based BPO specialist, Tech Mahindra, is also expanding in Europe, opening a center in South Tyneside, U.K., with plans to create 500 jobs over the next three years. The center will focus on the company's government-sector clients. Tech Mahindra operates 11 centers around the world. E Aviation Systems, a unit of General Electric Co., opened a new systems manufacturing facility in Suzhou, China, in early March in Suzhou Industrial Park. The 200,000-sq.-ft. (18,600-sq.-m.) factory will produce autoclaved composite parts, mechanical fabrications, structure assembly and civil aircraft actuation systems.
      GE plans to ramp employment to more than 200 during 2009 and plans to add electronics assembly and test capability in the future. uPont Apollo Global Thin Film Photovoltaic Business Headquarters and R&D Center and the Hong Kong Science Park Solar Energy Technology Support Center at Hong Kong Science Park held official opening ceremonies in March. The center is part of the first major technology co-operation project of the "Shenzhen Hong Kong Innovation Circle" under the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and the Shenzhen Municipal Government in collaboration with DuPont.
      The purpose of the center is to establish a Solar Energy Research and Industrial Platform. Downstream development and manufacturing of photovoltaic products will be carried out in Shenzhen.
      DuPont says it expects to nearly triple its annual photovoltaic sales to more than $1 billion in 2012 based on strong fundamentals for long-term revenue growth in the photovoltaic solar energy market, combined with the company's ability to deliver new technologies to the industry.
      DuPont anticipates that the photovoltaic market will grow by double digits over the next several years, driving demand for existing and new materials that are more cost effective.
      The market size today is about $30 billion, and according to industry estimates, will increase to $70 billion by 2013.