GIA announced the launch of a major research program analysing the trends impacting the market for “Wind Power”. Invited to participate in this comprehensive grassroots level global research initiative are senior industry executives, domain experts, technologists and market strategists.
The new report to be issued shortly will offer an accurate assessment of global market developments including major technologies, trends and challenges, together with descriptive, exploratory, and quantitative analysis of major product and geographic market segments.
Epitomized as a clean, sustainable, and pollution-free technology, wind energy has finally come of age, and is poised to proliferate into a global source of renewable energy for the future generation. The percentage contribution of electricity supplied from the winds, in the world energy mix portfolio, will however, depend largely upon the costs of wind power compared to other energy sources, and the rate of atmospheric pollution, and global warming.
Assessment of wind resources and identification of potential sites for wind farms are major focus areas, as countries begin to incorporate wind energy into the nation’s energy mix. Wind maps and atlases, that provide valuable, and accurate information on the distribution of wind resources, are emerging as important prerequisites for optimum energy exploitation across the world. Onshore wind farms which are established on land, represent the largest segment in the global wind energy market.
Offshore wind farms however are growing in popularity, primarily due to the numerous advantages over conventional land-based wind farms. The most significant advantage includes higher wind velocity and higher potential for energy generation. The consistent nature of offshore winds also makes energy generation more stable and predictable, and causing minimal inconveniences, including noise pollution and interruptions of transmission signals. Production of energy from offshore wind farms, therefore, is expected to outpace production from land-based wind turbines. Key factors driving this growth include availability of government financing and tax incentives.
Realizing the enormous potential of wind energy, developing countries in Asia-Pacific region are undertaking large-scale capacity expansion projects. As a part of the drive to minimize dependence on fossil fuels for energy needs, China is making rapid strides in wind energy market, amply backed by huge government support in terms of favourable pricing policies and feed-in-tariffs among others. The upcoming report will offer coverage on major companies, including American Electric Power, AES Corporation, Dongfang Electric Corporation, Gamesa Corp., GE Energy, Shell WindEnergy Inc., and Vestas Wind Systems A/S, among others.