GWEC publications

GWEC's annual report is the autoritative source of information on wind power markets around the world. The Global Wind 2009 Report contains installation figures for over 70 countries for the 2009 record year, as well as a five-year forecast up to 2014 and detailed chapters on the key countries.

Wind energy is a key solution in the fight against climate change, and the technology is on track to saving 10 bn tons of CO2 by 2020. This means that more than 65% of all emissions reductions pledges tabled by industrialised at the climate negotiations in Copenhagen could be met by global wind energy alone. This document shows that the current pledges can and must be revised.

GWEC’s Global Wind 2008 Report is the prime source for data on wind energy developments in 2008, containing figures on installations in over 70 countries around the world. 2008 was another record year for new installations, and global wind energy capacity surged by 28.8% in 2008.

GWEC predicts that in 2013, five years from now, global wind generating capacity will stand at 332 GW, up from 120 GW at the end of 2008. During 2013, 56.3 GW of wind generating capacity will be added, more than double the annual market in 2008. The year-on-year growth rates during this period will average 22%, which is modest compared to an average increase of 28% over the last ten years.

The Global Wind Report is the prime source for data on wind energy developments in 2007, containing figures on installations in over 70 countries around the world, as well as a forecast for the coming five years (2008-2012). In addition, 22 country reports give insights into policy and industry developments in established and emerging wind markets.

China could lead the world in wind energy development and play a larger role in combating climate change, according to a 2007 report by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), Greenpeace and Chinese Renewable Energy Induistry Association (CREIA). The China Wind Power Report 2007 predicts that China's installed wind power capacity could reach 122 GW by 2020, equivalent to the capacity of five Three Gorges Dams.

The Joint Memorandum on Realising the Opportunities and Potential of the Chinese Wind Market, published in 2007, was developed in close cooperation between GWEC’s member companies active in China and the Chinese associations. The Memorandum identifies five priority areas to improve China’s role in wind energy generation and equipment manufacturing, and was presented to the NDRC.

The Global Wind Report 2006 is the annual GWEC report, covering wind energy developments around the world in 2006. 

The report, from 2006, reviews the development of wind power and the pricing system in China. In particular, it looks at the existing wind concession projects and sums up the lessons learned. The report finds that the current tender system for wind pricing needs to be improved in order to build a fair environment for the wind industry competition.

GWEC published a position paper on the International Energy Agency’s 2006 World Energy Outlook (WEO). While the industry welcomes the upwards adjustment of the figures for the expected development of wind energy around the world by over 30% compared to the 2004 Outlook, it criticises that the WEO figures still fall a long way behind the expectations of the wind energy industry.