The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) annual market statistics published show that the wind industry installed just over 41,000MW of new wind power in 2011, bringing the total installed capacity globally to more than 238,000MW at the end of 2011.
This represents an increase of 21%, with an increase in the size of the annual global market of just over 6%. China has consolidated its position as global market leader, with a cumulative capacity of more than 62,000MW, despite having faced a challenging year. For India, 2011 installations pushed India’s total capacity to just over 16,000MW by adding over 3000MW of wind power installed in 2011. This is likely to go up to 5000MW per year by 2015. In the EU, 9,616MW of wind energy capacity was installed in 2011, for a total installed capacity of 93,957MW. After a difficult 2010, the US wind sector bounced back, with installations of more than 6800MW. Wind energy in Canada enjoyed a record year in 2011, surpassing the 5000MW milestone. Canada, and in particular Ontario, is emerging as a very competitive destination for wind energy investment globally. Latin America had a good year, growing by a total of more than 1200MW, led by Brazil. Brazilian installations were up by half, adding 587MW to reach a total of just over 1500MW. Brazil reached the 1GW milestone during 2011, and has a pipeline of more than 7,000MW to be completed before the end of 2016.
This represents an increase of 21%, with an increase in the size of the annual global market of just over 6%. China has consolidated its position as global market leader, with a cumulative capacity of more than 62,000MW, despite having faced a challenging year. For India, 2011 installations pushed India’s total capacity to just over 16,000MW by adding over 3000MW of wind power installed in 2011. This is likely to go up to 5000MW per year by 2015. In the EU, 9,616MW of wind energy capacity was installed in 2011, for a total installed capacity of 93,957MW. After a difficult 2010, the US wind sector bounced back, with installations of more than 6800MW. Wind energy in Canada enjoyed a record year in 2011, surpassing the 5000MW milestone. Canada, and in particular Ontario, is emerging as a very competitive destination for wind energy investment globally. Latin America had a good year, growing by a total of more than 1200MW, led by Brazil. Brazilian installations were up by half, adding 587MW to reach a total of just over 1500MW. Brazil reached the 1GW milestone during 2011, and has a pipeline of more than 7,000MW to be completed before the end of 2016.
Newer news items:
- 06/03/2012 - Investments in North American wind energy installations will total US$145 billion through 2017
- 05/03/2012 - Global installed capacity to reach 1,062 thousand MW by 2017
- 17/02/2012 - New detailed map of US wind resources
- 16/02/2012 - Growth in materials demand for wind turbine blades
- 08/02/2012 - World Market for Wind Turbines recovers and sets a new record
Older news items:
- 06/02/2012 - 9,616MW of wind energy capacity was installed in the EU in 2011
- 03/02/2012 - 3TIER Releases 2011 Wind Energy Performance Map of Europe
- 02/02/2012 - No evidence for Wind Turbine Syndrome
- 01/02/2012 - Growing demand for wind power generation creates jobs
- 01/02/2012 - Greek wind power production capacity rises by 23% 2011


