Global Wind Power Growth Continues to Strengthen

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) and the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) jointly reported statistics on worldwide wind power expansion for 2003. A record $9 billion (8,133 megawatts (MW)) of wind power capacity was installed bringing the world's total wind power generating capacity to 39,294 MW. This is enough to power 9 million average American homes, or 19 million average European households. Global cumulative installed capacity increased by 26% in 2003. The increase of 8,133 MW was 18% higher than 2002's 6,868 MW. Globally the total amount of installed wind power has grown 500% since 1997, from 7,636 MW to 39,294 MW in 2003. Europe and the U.S. dominated the global market in 2003, accounting for 88% of the new installations. India added 408MW (5%), the largest single addition outside the European and U.S. markets. The countries with the most wind power capacity are Germany – by far the largest market, in spite of a slight decline in the rate of new installations – followed by the United States, Spain, India and Austria. A number of countries, including the Netherlands, Italy, Japan, and the UK, now have several hundred megawatts installed and are nearing the 1,000-MW mark (3). "It […]

Read More