WindTech International
The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) has released its annual market statistics: the 2016 market was more than 54GW, bringing total global installed capacity to nearly 487GW. Led by China, the US, Germany, and India; and also with strong showings from France, Turkey and the Netherlands.
Chinese installations were 23,328MW, less than 2015's number of 30GW, 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.
US installations (8,203MW) were nearly equal to 2015's market, bringing the US total to more than 82GW. The US industry now employs more than 100,000 people and has more than 18GW under construction or in advanced stages of development. Canada (702MW) and Mexico (454MW) posted solid though modest gains.
