wind

Global wind power capacity had reached 254 GW by the end of June 2012, according to the World Wind Energy Association.

However China - by far the largest wind market – has seen a slowdown in wind energy projects this year.The country adding 5.4 GW of power in the first six months of 2012, significantly less than the 8 GW it added in the first half of 2011.

Global wind power statistics

  • 16,546 MW of wind power were added in the first six months of 2012 across the world.

  • This increase represents 10% less than in the first half of 2011, when 18,405 MW were added.

  • The global wind capacity grew by 7% within six months (2% less than the same period in 2011) and by 16.4 % on an annual basis (mid-2012 compared with mid-2011). In comparison, the annual growth rate in 2011 was 20.3 %.

  • It is expected that by the end of the second half of 2012, an additional capacity of 19,000 MW will have been erected worldwide, which would bring new annual installations to 35,546 MW - significantly less that the 40,535 MW of the year 2011.

Top wind markets

According to the World Wind Energy Association, the following countries are currently the world’s top providers of wind power. The number in brackets represents the country’s total amount of wind power at the end of June 2012.

  1. China (67,774 MW)

  2. USA (49,802 MW)

  3. Germany (30,016 MW)

  4. Spain (22,087 MW)

  5. India (17,351 MW)

These five countries represent a total share of 74% of the global wind capacity. The UK is ranked in eighth place, with a total of 6,840 MW by June 2012.

“A difficult situation”

Stefan Gsänger, WWEA Secretary General, said : “The wind industry, without doubt, is currently in a difficult situation. Political uncertainties in some of the key markets, namely in the USA, Spain and India, are major matters of concern. At the same time, China has reached its maximum speed of installing new wind farms… More countries should now make use of the low cost of wind power and implement the technology as fast as possible.”

You can download the full half year report from the World Wind Energy Association here.