After a slowdown in 2013, the wind industry set a new record for annual installations in 2014. Globally, 51,477MW of new wind generating capacity was added in 2014 according to the global wind market statistics released by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC). This figure represents a 44% increase in the annual market, and is a solid sign of the recovery of the industry after a rough patch in the past few years.
Total cumulative installations stand at 369,553MW at the end of 2014. China continues to drive global growth, setting a new record in 2014 with 23,351GW of new wind power, representing 45% of the global market, and dominating the Asian market's total installations of 26,161MW. India's 2,315MW was a distant second. The European market grew marginally in 2014, with 12,820MW of new capacity. Germany's 5,279MW of new capacity smashed the old record and cemented its position as European market leader, with the UK a distant second at 1,736. Sweden passed the 1,000MW mark for the first time with 1,050MW, and France was the last of four European markets surpassing 1GW with 1,042MW installed last year. Africa's largest wind farm came on line with the commissioning of the 300MW Tarfaya plant in Morocco, and South Africa's market made a strong start with 560MW, pushing African totals to 934MW. Brazil's 2,472MW in new installations led Latin American installations of 3,749MW, although Chile (506MW) and Uruguay (405MW) also made strong showings. The US market recovered in 2014 from 2013's nadir with 4,854MW, Canada (1,871MW) set a new record and Mexico (522MW) was solid. Australia's 567MW showed that the renewables industry in Australia is not dead, despite the best efforts of the government to kill it.
