Sunday, May 13, 2007
Wind power association sees market soaring 19% per year
BRUSSELS: The wind energy market will grow by 19 percent per year through the end of the decade as the high-flying sector keeps enjoying powerful Chinese and US demand, an industry association said Friday.
Even though that would mark a slowdown from the annual 24 percent growth registered in 2002-2006, the market would still double by the end of the decade, the Global Wind Energy Council said.
“Despite the strong growth we have witnessed in the past, we estimate that the biggest developments are still ahead,” GWEC director Angelika Pullen said in a statement.
“Until the end of the current decade, the cumulative capacity of wind energy installations is predicted to reach 149.5 gigawatts, more than double the installed capacity at the end of 2006,” she added.
Last year, 23 billion dollars (18 billion euros) worth of new wind generators came on line worldwide, lifting total capacity by 25 percent to more than 74 gigawatts.
The wind power sector is in the midst of a major boom as countries try to reduce their dependence on increasingly expensive fossil fuels while cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions to fight global climate warming.
“If decision makers around the world are genuinely committed to making a difference now, they have to rethink their energy policy and make the deployment of renewable energy technologies, such as wind energy, their number one priority,” said GWEC’s secretary general Steve Sawyer.
Although the European Union is currently the main market for wind power, demand in both Asia and North America is expanding at “a tremendous pace”, the association said.
While the US market is expected to become the biggest worldwide by 2010, “the Asian market has exceeded all previous estimations thanks to unexpectedly strong growth in China.”
The GWEC claims to represent over 1,500 companies, organisations and institutions in more than sixty countries, including all major wind turbine makers. afp
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