The wind industry has recovered from a slow 2010 and should see installations rise by 20 per cent over the course of this year, according to an industry report released yesterday.
The new five year forecast by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) predicted more than 40GW of new wind power capacity will be installed during 2011 and that by 2015, global installed capacity will more than double to 450GW.
Just under 36GW of new wind turbines went up last year, bringing total installed capacity globally to 194GW by the end of 2010.
The level of new installations was down seven per cent on 2009, when 39GW installed - a fall that was attributed to the delayed impact of the 2008 financial crisis on wind energy investment.
But despite the dip in installations during 2010, the GWEC reported that wind energy investment rose 31 per cent to a record level of $96bn, prompting the upbeat projections for this year.
“2010 was a tough year for our industry, but 2011 is looking up,” said Steve Sawyer, GWEC’s Secretary General. “We’ve paid the price for the 2008/9 financial crisis last year, and now we’re back on track.”
GWEC expects Chinese demand, spurred by “staggering investment in the sector”, to increasingly dominate the industry during 2011, and predicts annual installations in the country will top 20GW by 2015.
The trade group said that based on its projections China should easily surpass the nation’s target of installing 70GW of new wind power in the next five years, as set out in its new Five-Year plan.
According to the report, Europe will also add a further 60GW of capacity by 2015, but GWEC expects the US market to remain slow due to “legislative uncertainty” and as a result the organisation predicts the US will not return to 2009 levels of installation until 2014.
