Wind power now accounts for the majority of the world’s non-hydropower renewable electricity capacity. Now that wind power has reached approximately one-fifth of total electricity generation in some countries, most in the energy industry appreciate it as a mainstream technology that is key to not only reducing carbon emissions, but also meeting rapidly increasing electricity demand around the world.
While the global economic recession significantly slowed the pace of new wind power installations in 2010, turbine deployment activity remains strong and overall capacity will continue to rise at a healthy pace. According to a recent report from Pike Research, by 2017 wind power installations will represent a $153 billion global industry, up from $77 billion in 2011. Over that period, the cleantech market intelligence firm forecasts, cumulative investment in new wind power capacity will total $820 billion.
Over that same period, total wind generation capacity, including both onshore and offshore projects, will increase from 235.8 gigawatts (GW) in 2011 to 562.9 GW in 2017.
“Although growth rates of new wind installations will fall short of the industry’s boom period, cumulative wind power capacity will grow steadily over the next six years,” says senior analyst Peter Asmus. “Despite the challenging market conditions for the wind energy industry, this is a dynamic time for innovation in the market, as vendors are pushing turbines to sizes never before thought practical or economical.”
At the highest level, three major regional markets will continue to drive the global wind industry: Asia Pacific, dominated by China and, to a lesser extent, India; Europe, led by Germany and Spain; and North America, led by the United States. Illustrating the dynamic growth of new market entrants, the top 10 wind manufacturers supplied 79% of the wind turbines installed worldwide in 2010 – a significant drop from 88% only two years before. The majority of these new entrants are based in China. At the same time, numerous high-level mergers and acquisitions have resulted in more dynamic, vertically integrated wind turbine manufacturing companies. Increasingly, manufacturers are acquiring wind farm development companies as a strategy for ensuring markets for their turbines.
Pike Research’s report, “Global Wind Energy Outlook”, provides an in-depth analysis of global opportunities in the onshore and offshore wind energy markets, as well as an examination of key challenges facing the industry. It examines technology innovations that will influence the future direction of the market and also features detailed profiles of key industry players, including a competitive regional analysis of the three major wind energy markets today across their respective technology, policy, and capital environments. Market forecasts extend through 2017 and include projections for installed capacity, installation costs, and offshore production revenue, all segmented by onshore, offshore, region, and country. An Executive Summary of the report is available for free download on the firm’s website.
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Source: pikeresearch, November 09, 2011; Image: alpha-ventus, September 17, 2009