Wind power installation in Japan has been slowing down. According to a survey conducted by Japan Wind Power Association, the estimated capacity of wind power newly installed in fiscal 2011 was 82 MW, dropping down to less than one-third of the newly installed capacity in fiscal 2010. It is speculated that this trend has been caused by postponed wind power businesses waiting for the implementation of renewable energy feed-in-tariff (FIT) system, which is scheduled in July this year. The trend has also been affected by suspension of the subsidy system for facility construction resulting from the assumed implementation of FIT.
It has been estimated that the cumulative installed wind power capacity as of the end of fiscal 2011 (end of March, 2012) will be 2.52 GW. Although the national government aimed to increase the cumulative capacity to 3 GW in fiscal 2010, this goal was not achieved.
A survey by Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) shows that the cumulative capacity of wind power installed across the world is 238.35 GW as of the end of 2011, an increase of approximately 40 GW since 2010. The country with the largest capacity of newly installed wind power in 2011 was China with 18 GW. Japan ranked at 21, hovering low in the rankings. Since 2010, China has been ranked at the top also in the cumulative installed wind power capacity, exceeding 62 GW as of the end of 2011.
