North American Windpower
The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) has released its annual market statistics for 2016, when total global installed wind capacity reached nearly 487 GW.
Led by China, the U.S., Germany and India – with surprisingly strong showings from France, Turkey and the Netherlands – the global market was nonetheless less than 2015’s record total, says GWEC.
“Wind power continues to grow in double digits, but we can’t expect the industry to set a new record every single year,” comments Steve Sawyer, GWEC secretary general. “Chinese installations were an impressive 23,328 MW, although this was less than 2015’s spectacular 30 GW, which was driven by impending feed-in tariff reductions.
“Also, Chinese electricity demand growth is slackening, and the grid is unable to handle the volume of new wind capacity additions, although we expect the market to pick up again in 2017.”
According to GWEC, the Chinese offshore market began what many hope is the sector’s long-awaited takeoff: Following the U.K. and Germany, the country passed Denmark to achieve third place in global offshore rankings.