WORLD WIND UP 22%

Global wind capacity increases by 22% in 2010 - Asia leads growth
2 February 2011 (Global Wind Energy Council)

"Global wind power installations increased by 35.8 GW in 2010, according to...the Global Wind Energy Council...[bringing] total installed wind energy capacity up to 194.4 GW, a 22.5% increase on the 158.7 GW installed at the end of 2009. The new capacity added in 2010 represents investments worth EUR 47.3 billion (US Dollars 65 bn).

"For the first time in 2010, more than half of all new wind power was added outside of the traditional markets in Europe and North America...mainly driven by the continuing boom in China, which accounted for nearly half the new wind installations (16.5 GW)."

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[Li Junfeng, Secretary General, Chinese Renewable Energy Industry Association (CREIA):] “China now has 42.3 GW of wind power, and has surpassed the US in terms of total installed capacity...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.”

"...[O]ther developing countries also expanded their wind capacity, including India [2.1], Brazil (326 MW), [and] Mexico (316 MW)...213 MW were installed in North Africa (Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia)...Overall, however, the annual 2010 wind market was down for the first time in 20 years, shrinking by 7% from 38.6 GW in 2009...This was a result of the financial crisis, low levels of wind turbines orders working their way through the system, a depressed OECD electricity demand, as well as policy uncertainty in the US."

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"The US, 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...[due mainly to] the lack of long-term, predictable federal policies...In Europe also, new installed capacity in 2010 (9.9 GW) was 7.5% down on 2009 (10.7 GW), despite a 50% growth of the offshore market in countries like the UK, Denmark and Belgium, and new developments in Eastern Europe, mainly in Romania, Bulgaria and Poland."

[Steve Sawyer, Secretary General, GWEC:] “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.”