China has the world’s fastest-growing wind-energy market and is expected to become the biggest manufacturer of wind energy equipment by the end of 2009, according to a new report. The Global Wind Energy Council and Greenpeace International released its annual wind survey in Beijing at the Global Wind Power conference.
The largest wind-energy suppliers are Spanish utility Iberdrola with 8 gigawatts of capacity in its portfolio and U.S.-based FPL Group (NYSE: FPL) with 5.5 GW, according to the report. Other major utilities investing in wind include the UK’s Southern Electric, RWE, E.ON and EDF.
London oil giant BP has also entered the wind market in the U.S. and China (see BP, NRG start up Texas wind farm), and European companies Areva and Alstom have invested in wind turbine manufacturing.
The report said wind power could produce 12 percent of the world’s energy needs and prevent 10 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions within 12 years. By 2050, wind energy could comprise 30 percent of the world’s electricity, according to the report.
The global wind industry spent €25 billion ($37 billion USD) to install a record 20 GW of new capacity in 2007 to reach 93.8 GW, led by the U.S., Spain and China.
The top countries in installed capacity at the end of 2007 were Germany (22.3 GW), the U.S. (16.8 GW), Spain (15.1 GW), India (7.8 GW) and China (5.9 GW). Wind energy is being deployed in 70 countries.
India added 1.5 GW of wind energy in 2007, mostly driven by mandates in 10 of 29 states requiting 10 percent of energy from renewables. More than half the country’s installed wind is in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
China is expected to surpass Germany as the leading wind-energy country by the end of 2009, the report said. China added 3.3 GW in 2007, representing growth of 145 percent over 2006.
China now has the largest wind turbine manufacturing industry in the world, with leading producers such as Goldwind, Sinovel Wind, Dongfang, Windey and Sewind (see American Superconductor gets follow-on order from Sinovel). China had 40 wind component manufacturers at the end of 2007, accounting for about 56 percent of global wind equipment installed that year. Domestic manufacturing capacity is about 8 GW and is expected to reach 12 GW by 2010.
Other leading turbine manufacturers are based in Denmark, Germany, Spain, the U.S. and India.
-from cleantech