Asia New Wind Power Leader

The Global Wind Energy Council has released new figures that reveal that global wind power installations increased by 35.8 GW in 2010, reaching a total of 194.4 GW. That represents an increase of 22.5% on 2009 figures. All the new added capacity in 2010 was worth $65bn in investments.

The Council also revealed that for the first time more than half of the new installations were carried out outside Europe and North America, traditionally the largest markets for wind energy. The continuing wind power boom in China drove the Asian leadership. New wind installations in China amounted to 16.5 GW.

China and other markets

China now has 42.3 GW of wind power, and has surpassed the U.S. in terms of total installed capacity," said Li Junfeng, Secretary General of the Chinese Renewable Energy Industry Association (CREIA). "This puts China firmly on a path to reach 200 GW of installed wind power by 2020. At the same time, China has become the world's largest producer of wind energy equipment."

Wind power is expanding beyond the traditional 'rich country' markets, said GWEC's Secretary General Steve Sawyer, which is a sign of its growing competitiveness.

"This is a trend we are expecting to see developing further in the future, not only in Asia. We are also seeing encouraging signs in Latin America, especially Brazil and Mexico, and in both Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa", said Mr. Sawyer.

Other developing countries that also expanded their wind power capacity in 2010 included India (2.1 GW added in 2010), Brazil (326 MW), Mexico (316 MW). Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia in North Africa added 213 MW.

Contraction

Despite the Asian growth, overall the 2010 wind market was down for the first time in 20 years. It shrank by 7% from 38.6 GW in 2009. The Council said the contraction was a result of the financial crisis, low levels of wind turbine orders, a depressed OECD electricity demand and policy uncertainty in the U.S. It also points to a slowdown in Europe as a weakening factor.

The U.S., traditionally one of the strongest wind markets, saw its annual installations drop by 50% from 10 GW in 2009 to just over 5 GW in 2010.

"Our industry continues to endure a boom-bust cycle because of the lack of long-term, predictable federal policies, in contrast to the permanent entitlements that fossil fuels have enjoyed for 90 years or more," said Denise Bode, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association. "Now that we're competing with natural gas on cost, we need consistent federal policies to ensure we have a diverse portfolio of energy sources in this country."

In Europe there was a decrease of 7.5% in relation to 2009 as total added capacity fell from 10.7 GW to 9.9 GW. Some of its internal markets grew, though, such as the UK, Denmark and Belgium, which saw a 50% growth of the offshore market. Eastern European countries such as Romania, Bulgaria and Poland also received new developments.

"These figures are a warning that we cannot take for granted the continued financing of renewable energy" said Christian Kjaer. "Better access to financing is urgently needed, and the European Union must act without delay to prevent Europe losing its leadership in wind power and other renewable technologies.

Despite the disappointing figures, Mr. Sawyer remains optimistic. "2010 was a tough year for most industries, and wind power was no exception. 2011 will be better. Orders picked up again in the second half of 2010, and investments in the sector continue to increase."

Image credits: EnergyRefuge/GWEC