Wind Power

Oil prices are making wind power more competitive.

MADRID (Reuters) - Soaring oil prices have made wind power more competitive but Spanish government subsidies will be needed for some time to allow the industry to meet ambitious growth plans, generators said on Monday.

Spain has about 16,000 megawatts of installed wind power capacity, making it the world's third-largest producer, after Germany and the United States.

Spanish government plans call for that capacity to expand to 20,000 MW by 2010, and the industry is eyeing 40,000 MW by 2020, in order to comply with European Union objectives to obtain 20 percent of all energy from renewable sources.