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| USA and China in race to the top of global wind industry  The United States passed Germany to become world #1 in wind power installations, and China's total capacity doubled for the fourth year in a row. Total worldwide installations in 2008 were more than 27,000 megawatts (MW), dominated by the three main markets in Europe, North America and Asia. Global wind energy capacity grew by 28.8% last year, even higher than the average over the past decade, to reach total global installations of more than 120.8 gigawatts (GW) at the end of 2008. Over 27 GW of new wind power generation capacity came online in 2008, 36% more than in 2007."The 120 GW of global wind capacity in place at the end of 2008 will produce 260 TWh and save 158 million tons of CO2 every year", said Steve Sawyer, Secretary General of GWEC. Wind energy is now an important player in the world's energy markets. The global wind market for turbine installations in 2008 was worth about 36.5bn EUR or 47.5bn US$. The leading markets in terms of new installed capacity in 2008 were the US and China. New US wind energy installations totalled 8,358 MW for a total installed capacity of 25,170 MW. The US has now officially overtaken Germany (23,902 MW) as number one in wind power. Europe and North America are running neck-to-neck, with about 8.9 GW each of new installed capacity in 2008, with Asia closely following with 8.6 GW. The massive growth in the US wind market in 2008 increased the nation's total wind power generating capacity by 50%. The new wind projects completed in 2008 account for about 42% of the entire new power-producing capacity added in the US last year, and created 35,000 new jobs, for a total of 85,000 employed in the sector in the US At year's end, however, financing for new projects and new orders for turbines and components slowed to a trickle as the financial crisis began to hit the wind sector. "We look forward to working with President Obama and the new Congress on policies to restore the industry's vital momentum and achieve President Obama's goal of doubling renewable energy production in three years", said AWEA CEO Denise Bode. The growth in Asia's markets has also been breathtaking; close to a third of all new capacity in 2008 was installed on the Asian continent. In particular, the wind energy boom is continuing in China, which once again doubled its installed capacity by adding about 6.3 GW, reaching a total of 12.2 GW. In Europe, almost 8.9 GW worth of new wind turbines brought total wind power generation capacity up to nearly 66 GW. While in the past, European growth was primarily spurred by the established markets in Germany, Spain and Denmark, 2008 saw a much more balanced expansion, led by France, the UK and Italy. write your comments about the article :: © 2009 Construction News :: home page |