Asia leads global wind power growth

Asia leads the growth in global wind power, which grew 35.8 GW in 2010 bringing total global capacity to 194.4 GW – up 22.5% from 2009, the Global
Wind power installations in 2010 represented investments worth €47.3 billion, but the global wind power market was nonetheless down for the first time in 20 years. New installations fell 7% compared to 2009, mainly due to a disappointing year in the US, as well as a slowdown in Europe.

GWEC says the fall in new wind power installations were mainly due to a combination of the financial crisis, low levels of wind turbine orders, a depressed OECD electricity demand and policy uncertainty in the US.

Unlike previous years, more than half of installations were outside the traditional markets of Europe and North America. Asia in the wind
Asia accounted for 19 GW of new global wind power installations, driven by China, which installed 16.5 GW. “China now has 42.3 GW of wind power, and has surpassed the US in terms of total installed capacity,” says 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.”

Source: Renewable Energy Focus