According to preliminary figures gathered by World Wind Energy Association (WWEA), the year 2014 brought a new record in wind power installations: More than 50GW of capacity were added during 2014, bringing the total wind power capacity close to 370GW.
The market volume for new wind capacity was 40 % bigger than in 2013, and significantly bigger than in the previous record year 2012, when 44,6GW were installed. The top twelve countries alone installed 44,8GW of new wind power plants, half of them setting new national records:
- China added 23,3GW reaching a total capacity of 115GW.
- Germany has become the second largest market for new turbines, adding onshore and offshore 5,8GW
- The US market recovered from its previous slump and reached 4,9GW
- The newcomer of the year 2014 is Brazil with additional capacity of 2,8GW
- New national installation records were also achieved in Canada (1,9GW) and Sweden (1GW).
- Denmark set a new world record by reaching a wind power share of 39 % in the domestic power supply
- Amongst the top 12 countries, Spain, Denmark and Italy saw stagnation in terms of new installations.
370 GW of wind power installed worldwide can now contribute close to 5 % of the global electricity demand. Several countries, including Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, the UK and Germany, have now reached 10% or more of their power coming from wind. The World Wind Energy Report 2014 including detailed statistics will be published in April 2015.