The population of the world continues to grow, as does the average
standard of living, increasing demand for food, water and energy and placing
increasing pressure on the environment. The population of the world doubled
from 3.2 billion in 1962 to 6.4 billion in 2005 and is forecast to grow to 9.2
billion in 2050.
Supplies of oil, gas, coal and uranium are forecast to peak as reserves
are depleted. At the same time, fear of climate change is putting pressure on
the energy sector to move away from carbon burning to nuclear, solar and other
environmentally friendly energy sources.
Among the new renewable energy technologies, only wind has achieved
competitiveness with fossil fuel fired generation. Ceres estimates the cost of
windpower at US$ 23 to US$ 59 per MW hour compared to coal at US$ 56 to US$ 83
per MW hour if potential costs of reducing CO2 emissions are included.
Since the early 1990s, the wind energy industry's growth has averaged
28% per year and is expected to range between 15% and 30% per annum in the
years ahead. With new installation of 8 GW in 2004, globally installed wind
power capacity reached 45 GW. In 2005, global wind markets reached US$ 11.8
billion, up 47% on 2004. Global wind power capacity reached 94 GW by the end of
2007, up 27% from end 2006, and is now above 100 GW.
Wind capacity in the EU rose 8.5 GW or 18% in 2007 to 56.5 GW and
accounted for about 40% of new power installations across Europe. Europe has
60% of total global capacity.
New wind installations were second only to natural gas in the USA as an
additional source of power capacity and were the leading source of new capacity
in the EU. According to the American Wind Energy Association, more than 7,800
small wind generators were sold in 2004, nearly 70% of them in the USA. In 2005
nearly 13,000 were sold and a further 75,000 were expected to be sold between
2006 and 2010.
Germany, with the world's largest wind generator capacity of 22.2 GW,
added 2 GW in each of 2006 and 2007. Rising turbine prices in conjunction with
falling payments to wind-generated electricity have temporarily made the German
market less attractive to developers than other markets, while good onshore
sites are becoming scarce. Wind power generated the equivalent of 7.2% of
Germany's electricity consumption in 2007.
According to the American Wind Energy Association, more wind turbines
were installed in the USA than any other country in 2006, bringing total
capacity to 11,600 MW, less than 1% of US electricity generation. The USA
installed 5.2 GW of capacity in 2007, an increase of 45% and bringing capacity
to 16.8 GW. Growth has been largely attributed to the federal production tax
credit and by renewable energy mandates in many states. Texas is the top wind
power generator, with 30% of total US wind production. The US market in small
wind turbines has been growing at 14 to 25% per year since 1992.
Spain, with the third largest installation, added 3.5 GW in 2007 to
bring total installed capacity to 15 GW, 10% of Spain's power requirements.
In 2007 India added 1.7 GW of new capacity to reach 8 GW. China's wind
power capacity is growing fast and 3.5 GW of wind turbines were commissioned in
2007 out of a total of 6 GW. Another 4 GW are expected to be added in 2008 and,
based on current growth rates, the Chinese Renewable Energy Industry
Association predicts that China's wind capacity could reach 50 GW by 2015.
Over the past 15 years, the costs of wind-generated electricity have
dropped by 50%, while efficiency, reliability, and power rating have all
experienced significant improvements. Wind power remains competitive with new
natural gas plants and will become increasingly competitive with coal as more
countries put a price on carbon emissions.
Turbines of 5 MW capacity for offshore and 3 MW capacity for onshore are
replacing smaller models. Clipper Windpower is planning a 7.5 MW facility in
the North Sea offshore England. The global wind market was estimated to be
worth about $36 billion in 2007, accounting for nearly half of all investments
in new renewable power and heating capacity last year. As many as 200,000
people around the world are currently employed by the wind industry.
On the turbine manufacturing side there continues to be consolidation,
while technological innovation has generally advanced in small incremental
steps. Manufacturers continue to focus on increasing manufacturing capacity and
entering new markets. Wind generator manufacturers are battling to expand
manufacturing capacity to keep up with demand.
Siemens reported a doubling of sales and earnings for its wind power
division in 2Q2006. GE sales of environmental products increased from US$ 6.2
billion in 2004 to US$ 10.1 billion in 2005. Clipper Windpower and Suzlon both
opened new wind turbine manufacturing plants in 2006. Shell, BP, Florida Power
& Light and Electricité de France (EDF) are among other companies
active in this sector.
