The global wind energy market grew 31% last year and withstood the economic downturn, GWEC said yesterday (3 February).
A third of new turbines were installed in China, whose 13 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity outstripped Europe (10.5GW) and the US (9.9GW).
China doubled its wind energy capacity in 2009 for the fifth year running, climbing up the top-ten list of the world's biggest wind energy markets. Last year, it overtook Spain on total installed capacity and was outdone only by the US and Germany.
"It's very likely that China will overtake Germany this year," said Angelika Pullen, communications director at the Global Wind Energy Council. She added that it was "only a matter of time" before the US surrenders its leading position.
Despite accusations by many Western countries that China hindered an agreement on a new international climate treaty in Copenhagen, the Asian giant continues to develop clean energy to fuel its growing economy.
"There is a very strong drive from the side of the government," said Pullen.
In 2009, Europeans installed more wind power capacity than any other electricity-generating technology for the second year in a row. Wind was followed by gas and solar photovoltaics, while more coal and nuclear plants were decommissioned than built.
Christian Kjaer, chief executive of the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), said that high oil prices are tipping the scales in favour of the wind industry. With current prices at $70-80, new onshore wind installations can compete with gas plants and are only marginally more expensive than coal, he said.
The wind energy industry is cautiously optimistic about the outlook for 2010 despite the liquidity problems facing smaller producers in particular.
"That is because we have seen signs of improvement in project finance," Kjaer said.
Nevertheless, the industry will have difficulty repeating last year's 10GW of new capacity, which would require new orders to be announced in the coming months.
"I would be surprised if it was below eight GW because we have quite a stable political framework in the European Union compared to other regions in the world," Kjaer said, explaining that the EU's wind energy market was shielded from sharp fluctuations.
Spain installed the most new capacity in the EU in 2009, 2.5GW, followed by Germany's 1.9GW. The two traditional wind leaders accounted for 43% of growth, followed by Italy, France and the UK.
