Global wind power capacity grows by 18.4 GW in H1 2011 - WWEA

Sep 2, 2011 - The World Wind Energy Association (WWEA) announced that new wind power installations in the first half of 2011 had reached 18.4 GW, up 15% on the year, showing signs of recovery after weak 2010.

At the end of June, global wind power capacity stood at 215 GW, while it is projected at 240.5 GW at the end of 2011, or as much as is needed to meet 3% of worldwide electricity consumption. WWEA expects 25.5 GW of fresh capacity in the second half of the year, resulting in annual additions of 43.9 GW. In 2010, all new wind power installations were 37.64 GW.

China, USA, Germany, Spain and India remained the top five countries in terms of installed wind power capacity for the January-June period. Their share of global capacity is 74%. On the other hand, France and Denmark experienced declines. Denmark dropped out of the top 10 markets, while Portugal joined the list as number 10.

China alone added 8.0 GW of new wind power in the first half of 2011, bringing its total wind power capacity to 52 GW. The country accounted for 43% of the worldwide market for new wind turbines.

New installations in the US were at 2.25 GW, an increase of 90% year-on-year, but still far from the 10 GW the country installed in 2009.

In the first six months of 2011, Venezuela, Honduras and Ethiopia powered up their first wind power facilities, bringing the number of countries that use wind energy to 86. Ecuador, Malaysia and Uganda launched feed-in tariffs for renewable energy.

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!