A very significant achievement, considering that predictions at the beginning of the year forecasted a drop of about 50%. Nevertheless, the situation changed significantly with the new Obama administration, which enforced new rules on renewable incentives (American Recovery & Reinvestment Act), leading to the installation of as much as 4,041 MW in the last quarter of the year.
To be noted, however, that the lack of a long-term comprehensive policy in this field causes the industry to move cautiously, so that its investments in manufacturing plants were about a third lower than in 2008.
Thus, AWEA reports that the total wind power capacity that has entered into service in the United States exceeded 35,000 MW, meeting the electricity demand of 9.7 million households, also making the system more secure and helping to protect both households and the system from the effects of changing fuel prices.
From an environmental point of view, electricity produced by wind turbines can avoid the emission of 62.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year, equivalent to the amount emitted by 10.5 million cars.
Currently, wind power plants have been constructed in 36 of the 50 US states, 14 of them having a capacity of over 1,000 MW.
In the ranking of the top 5 states, Texas leads with an installed capacity of 9,410 MW, followed by Iowa (3,670 MW), California (2,794 MW), Washington (1,980 MW) and Minnesota (1,809).
China became the biggest market for new wind turbines last year, as it doubled wind power capacity from 12 gigawatts to 25 gigawatts. The world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases is turning to renewables.
China is aiming to increase that sixfold, to 150 GW, by 2020. The Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association says it could hit that target far earlier. But wind energy still accounts for only 1 percent of China’s total electricity consumption.
A total of 74,767 MW is now installed in the European Union with Germany remaining the EU country with the largest installed capacity, followed by Spain, Italy, France, and the UK.
During 2009 10,526 MW of wind power was installed across Europe, 10,163 MW of that being in the European Union countries. This represents a market growth in the EU of 23% compared to 2008 installations.
Of the 10,163 MW installed in the European Union, 9581 MW was installed onshore, and 582 MW offshore. In 2009 the onshore wind power market grew 21% compared to the previous year, and the offshore wind power market grew 56% compared to the previous year.
Spain led the European Union and ranked third worldwide in terms of new wind power capacity installed in 2009, with 2,459 MW. The world had some 158 gigawatts of wind capacity in place by the end of 2009.
Wind Power – Worldwide Installed Capacity Start 2010
Country —————–MW
1. United States- 35,159
2. Germany- 25,777
3. China- 25,104
4. Spain- 19,149
5. India -10,926
6. Italy -4,850
7. France -4,492
8. United Kingdom- 4,051
9. Portugal- 3,535
10. Denmark- 3,465
11. Canada- 3,319
12. Netherlands- 2,229
13. Japan-2,056
14. Australia-1,712
15. Sweden-1,560
16. Ireland- 1,260
17. Greece- 1,087
18. Austria- 995
19. Turkey- 801
20. Poland- 725
21. Brazil- 606
22. Belgium- 563
23. New Zealand- 497
24. Taiwan- 436
25. Norway- 431
26. Egypt- 430
27. S. Korea-348
28. Morocco- 253
29. Mexico- 202
30. Hungary- 201
31. Czech Republic- 192
32. Bulgaria-177
33. Chile- 168
34. Finland-146
35. Estonia-142
36. Costa Rica- 123
37. Ukraine- 94
38. Lithuania-91
39. Iran-91
40. Tunisia-54
41-Nicaragua-40
42. Luxembourg-35
43. Caribbean- 35
44. Philippines-33
45. Argentina-31
46. Latvia-28
47. Croatia- 28
48. Jamaica-23
49. Colombia- 20
50. Uruguay- 20
51. Switzerland- 18
52. Romania- 14
53. Cape Verde-12
54. Pacific Islands- 12
55. Reunion (France)- 10
56. Russia- 9
57. South Africa- 8
58. Israel- 8
59. Cuba-7
60. Kenya-5
61. Faroe Islands-4
62. Slovakia- 3
63. Sri Lanka- 3
64. Jordan- 2
65. Ecuador- 2
66. Peru- 1
67. Bangladesh- 1
68. Falklands Islands-1
Wind Energy in the World: 157.900 MW in 2010
www.awea.org/publications/reports/4Q09.pdf
www.ewea.org/fileadmin/ewea_documents/documents/statistics/general_stats_2009.pdf
