US Wind Energy Market
The year 2009 was the best year for US wind industry, but 2010 was a somewhat down year for US wind power, despite many new wind energy projects that were installed in 2010. Among the main reasons for this slowdown was the increased popularity of natural gas, lagging demand for new power generation capacity, and uncertainty over federal climate change/renewable energy policy direction.
New wind powered generating capacity installed in 2010 in the US was roughly half that installed in 2009, but there is a fairly robust pipeline of new capacity currently under construction, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).
In 2010 the US added a total of 5,115 MW of new wind power capacity. And 2011 is looking better as currently there is 5,600 megawatts currently under construction. Favorable tax credits are set to expire at the end of 2011, and this will no doubt cause new wind energy projects to start construction before yearend.
Natural gas, with its current low prices, looks to be the main competitor to the wind energy sector, but future natural gas prices remain an uncertainty compared to wind power prices which have been dropping in recent years.
At the end of 2010 the total US installed wind capacity was 40,180 MW; China now for the first time tops the world as the largest wind energy producer with a total wind power capacity of 41,800 MW. Texas is still the nation's leader in installed wind power capacity with 10,085 MW, followed by Iowa with 3,675 MW, California with 3,177 MW, Minnesota with 2,192 MW and Washington with 2,105 MW.
Developers installed 5,115 MW of new wind powered generating capacity in the US last year, compared with approximately 10,000 MW installed in the record year of 2009, and 8,500 MW in 2008, AWEA said in its new report. "The industry is likely to finish 2011 ahead of 2010 numbers," said Elizabeth Salerno, AWEA director of industry data and analysis.
"Wind's costs have dropped over the past two years, with power purchase agreements being signed in the range of 5 to 6 cents/kWh recently," Salerno said. "With uncertainty around natural gas and power prices as the economy recovers, wind's long-term price stability is even more valued."
Bode argued that with "uncertainty over national policies still holding back the US industry, state targets for renewable energy continue to drive wind installations in many areas of the country."
Two states, according to AWEA, began tapping wind resources last year for the first time -- Delaware and Maryland. According to AWEA there are now 38 states that have utility-scale wind projects, with 14 of those now having installed more than 1,000 MW of wind power.
Global Wind Energy Market
In 2010 the total global installed wind capacity reached 196,630 MW, showing sustained growth on 2009's 159,050 MW, 2008's 120,903 MW, and 2007's 93,930 MW.
China accounted for more than half of the world wind energy market in 2010. If China were excluded, the offshore sector would in fact have shrunk by one third. Still, installed wind capacity has more than doubled every third year, a trend which continues even in the face of the downturn.
Last year a total of 83 countries, one more than in 2009, used wind for electricity generation and 52 countries increased their total installed capacity, up from the 49 in the previous year.
Next to China, strong growth was mainly concentrated in east and southeast European countries including Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Cyprus, and Belgium.
Africa, with the exception of Egypt and Morocco, and Latin America, excluding Brazil, again lagged behind the rest of the world in their commercial use of wind power.
Offshore wind capacity continued to grow in 2010 and was apparent in 12 countries, 10 of which were in Europe. Japan and China were the other two. The total global installed offshore wind capacity reached 3117.6 MW, of which 1161.7 MW was added in 2010, representing a growth rate of 59 percent. Offshore wind capacity, in terms of the global wind sector, saw its share increase from 1.2 percent in 2009 to 1.6 percent in 2010.
In 2010, the Chinese wind market came into its own, representing more than half of the world market for new wind turbines, adding 18.9 GW and scoring a market share of 50.3 percent. Meanwhile there was a sharp decrease in new capacity in the US — where its share in new wind turbines fell to 14.9 percent (5.6 GW) in 2010 — from 25.9 percent, or 9.9 GW, in 2009.
By continent, the most dynamic progress of the wind industry took place in Asia, and the focus of the global wind sector moved further away from Europe and North America. Asia became the new continental leader, accounting for 54.6 percent of the newly installed wind turbines compared with 40.4 percent in 2009 and 31.5 percent in 2008. Five years ago Europe dominated the world market for new wind turbines with 70.7 percent of the market.
The total global installed wind capacity at the end of 2010 could potentially contribute 430 TWh annually, representing 2.5 percent of total global demand.
In some countries and regions wind has become one of the largest electricity sources. For instance in terms of wind share, Denmark is the world leader with 21 percent, Portugal follows with 18 percent, Spain at 16 percent, and Germany with 9 percent. In China, wind contributed 1.2 percent to overall electricity supply, while in the US, wind's share reached about 2 percent.
By the end of 2010 about 670,000 people were employed worldwide, both directly and indirectly, in the various branches of the wind sector. Within the past five years, the number of jobs has almost tripled, from 235,000 in 2005.
Based on the current growth rates, WWEA has revised its expectations for the future growth of the global wind capacity. In 2015, a global capacity of 600 GW is possible. By the end of year 2020, at least 1,500 GW can be expected to be installed globally.
For further details onthe outlook for wind power, see the following:
Renewable Energy World Magazine, May-June 2011, pp. 29-34.
World Wind Outlook: Down But Not Out
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2011/05/world-wind-outlook-down-but-not-out
Wind power installation slowed in 2010, outlook for 2011 stronger: AWEA
http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/ElectricPower/6773195
This article was partially excerpted from publically available information, and was authored by Rick Wilson, Acacia Environmental Group LLC. Any opinions expressed in this article are those solely of the author, and are not intended as legal or professional guidance to any specific readers. For more information on the author see here.
Energy and Environment Monitor