These are the words of Adnan Amin, director general of theInternational Renewable Energy Agency and I couldn’t agree with him more. As we report on pages 26-29 of the March/April 2013 issue of Renewable Energy Focus, Amin was one of the key speakers at this year’s European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) annual conference.

The realistic prospect of indigenous renewable resources producing secure and sustainable energy is “technically possible and economically feasible today”, supplying the 1.3bn people lacking electricity, he said.

And while several speakers at the event vented their frustration about the crippling climate of political instability, which means we are set to see wind power installation figures across Europe fall in the coming year, Amin was a little more upbeat. He highlighted the fact that some 120 countries worldwide now have renewable energy targets and more are joining the group.

“I am confident that the best days for the wind industry lie ahead,” he said.

The industry needs to think beyond Europe, the US, China and Europe – the four regions which account for 75% of the annual onshore wind market currently. It is time to wake the world’s other sleeping giants: Africa, Asia and Latin America.

IRENA’s work in these regions “could unleash massive economies of scale”, Amin noted, while enabling “a genuine transformation of the energy landscape”. The industry needs to support IRENA’s work with all its might – “important” does not begin to describe it.

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