The world market for wind turbines saw robust growth in the first half of the year 2010, with approximately 16 GW of new capacity added worldwide, reports the World Wind Energy Association.
China represents the largest market and added 7.8 GW within 6 months, reaching total installations of almost 34 GW.
The USA, still number one in total capacity with 36 GW, saw a major decrease in new installations and added only 1200 MW, followed by India.
The five major European markets showed similar growth:
- Germany added 660 MW;
- France and the UK 500 MW;
- Italy 450 MW; and
- Spain 400 MW.
The total capacity of all wind turbines installed worldwide reached 175 GW in mid-2010, compared with 159 GW by the end of 2009.
WWEA expects that the market for new turbines will reach a size between 35 and 40 GW this year, close to 2009 when 38 GW were added. With this increase, the global capacity will reach almost 200 GW by the end of this year, according to WWEA predictions.
With an expected total increase of 15 GW in the year 2010, China will most likely become number one country in terms of total capacity by the end of 2010, thus surpassing the USA.