Will 2007 be another record year?
Recently the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) announced that 2006 had been another record year. Despite the supply chain issues that have caused problems for the industry for several years now, the market grew by 23%. In 2006, 15,197MW was installed, taking the total installed wind energy capacity to 74,223MW.
{access view=!registered}Only logged in users can view the full text of the article.{/access}{access view=registered}But not everybody feels as good about wind energy as we do. From time to time we receive emails from people that are unhappy with our industry.? They say that we are being dishonest about the actual output of wind turbines compared to the output capacities stamped on the turbine itself. That there is a difference is no secret. We all know that the generated energy is dependent on a number of different factors. That is precisely why manufacturers, developers, scientific institutions and others study the environment, external factors and the technology in order to ‘catch’ as much wind as possible. Although the wind industry is becoming more mature and a mainstream energy source, I am sure that there are many more technological possibilities to be explored, and we will continue to inform you about this progress.
Renewable energy is at the top of the political agenda for many governments and organisations. Many countries have set ambitious goals to increase the percentage of renewable energy sources in the energy mix. Obviously the ‘big wind areas’ like Europe, North America and India continue to be the leading players, but new areas are emerging all the time. Wind energy is now a key part of the Chinese government's energy policy and more wind farms will be installed in the near future. Also the local industry is growing and more and more Chinese turbine manufacturers are entering the market. At the moment these companies produce mainly for their local area, but I would not be surprised to see at least one of them evolving into a global player. We have all seen this happening in other industries. For now the local market is big enough, but soon the Chinese will start looking over their borders.
It would be good if everybody was in favour of wind energy, but it seems unlikely that this will ever happen. There will always be people against it. But 2007 looks like becoming another good year for the industry. The economic and political climate is all in favour and the record looks likely to be broken, yet again.
Enjoy reading,
Floris Siteur{/access}