Very difficult question, in my opinion. There's obviously a split between as/than, which usually means you go find either "as adjective (as)" or "comparative adjective (than)" to match elsewhere in the sentence. But this sentence has
more (already with another
than?? Would a
than in the choice be redundant?) and
ten times as much (do we need another
as in the answer to complete this??) And then there's the issue of meaning. If I were to paraphrase, I use
more than: Hopeful signs means...
more energy generated by wind now
than before.
I had to make up a similar sentence to help myself.
(More than) (ten times as many) people are living in urban areas now than were (living in urban areas) in 1900.
The phrases in parentheses ultimately modify people: More people.
The
than/
10x as many just quantify how much more.
With that complexity removed:
More people are living in urban areas now
than were (living in urban areas) in 1900.
We need
than in the choice, so we can focus on A and E.
(A) equates to: More people are living in urban areas now than they were in 1900.
(E) equates to: More people are living in urban areas now than was the case in 1900.
Which would you choose?