WWEA - World Energy Report 2009 - Part I

Worldwide wind power capacity reached 159,213 MW, out of which 38,312 MW were added in 2009. Wind power showed a growth rate of 31,7 %, the highest rate since 2001.

The trend continued that wind capacity doubles every three years. All wind turbines installed by the end of 2009 worldwide are generating 340 TWh per annum, equivalent to the total electricity demand of Italy, the seventh largest economy of the world, and equalling 2 % of global electricity consumption.

The wind sector in 2009 had a turnover of 50 billion €. The wind energy sector employed 550,000 persons worldwide. In the year 2012, the wind industry is expected for the first time to offer 1 million jobs.

China continued its role as the locomotive of the international wind industry and added 13,800 MW within one year – as the biggest market for new turbines –, more than doubling the installations for the fourth year in a row.

The USA maintained its number one position in terms of total installed capacity and China became number two in total capacity, only slightly totalcapacityworld2009ahead of Germany, both of them with around 26’000 Megawatt of wind capacity installed.

Asia accounted for the largest share of new installations (40,4 %), followed by North America (28,4 %) and Europe fell back to the third place (27,3 %).

Latin America showed encouraging growth and more than doubled its installations, mainly due to Brazil and Mexico.

A total wind capacity of 200,000 Megawatt will be exceeded within the year 2010.

Based on accelerated development and further improved policies, WWEA increases its predictions and sees a global capacity of 1,900,000 Megawatt as possible by the year 2020.

Global Wind Capacity continues to double every third year

Again the year 2009 brought new records for wind energy utilisation around the world: In spite of the global economic crisis, investment in new wind turbines exceeded by far all previous years. The wind capacity worldwide reached 159,213 Megawatt, after 120,903 MW in 2008, 93,930 MW in 2007, 74,123 MW in 2006, and 59,012 MW in 2005.

Again it can be seen that the installed wind capacity is more than doubling every third year. The market for new wind turbines showed a 42,1 % increase and reached an overall size of 38,312 MW, after 26,969 MW in 2008, 19,808 MW in 2007 and 15,111 MW in the year 2006. Ten years ago, the market for new wind turbines had only a size of 4 Gigawatt, only one tenth of the size of 2009.

In comparison, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency the share of nuclear power in the global energy supply went again down in the year 2009 and the number of nuclear power stations worldwide decreased by one. The turnover of the wind sector worldwide reached 50 billion ! / 70 billion US$ in the year 2009, compared with 40 billion ! in the previous year.

Wind energy and the global financial crisis: Better policies:
The global financial and economic crisis, all in all, had no negative impact on the general development of the wind sector worldwide. Many governments sent clear signals that they want to accelerate wind deployment in their countries and indicated that investment in wind and other renewable technologies is seen as the answer to the financial as well as to the still ongoing energy crisis. Hence, politically stable and in many cases improved frameworks lead to more investment in wind utilisation around the globe.

Two milestones in this context were the first feed-in law in North America, adopted in Ontario, in the aftermath of the WWEC2008, and the introduction of the first feed-in tariff in Africa by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa.

Within this political environment and as predicted in the World Wind Energy Report 2008, the finance sector has started to understand that wind technology is in principle a low-risk investment not only for the investors themselves, given the right policies are in place. In addition to such direct microeconomic benefits for wind investors, wind turbines stabilise the overall energy prices and hence reduce general economic risks in a country, while reducing the dependency on (in most cases imported) fossil and nuclear resources.

Interesting prospects for financing wind and other renewable technologies came up in the context of the UN climate change discussions: The International Renewable Energy Alliance proposed at the COP15 in Copenhagen a Global Fund for Renewable Energy Investment, including a Global Feed-in Tariff programme. This proposal would enable mainly developing countries to invest on a large scale in renewable energy and has already attracted major interest amongst governments and international organisations. Adopted in the frame of the UNFCCC, it would pave the way for an accelerated huge and worldwide boom of renewable energy deployment.

Increasing growth rates since 2001:
The growth rate is the relation between the new installed wind power capacity and the installed capacity of the previous year. The annual growth rate continued to increase since the year 2004, reaching 31,7 % in 2009 – the highest rate since 2001 –, after 29,0 % in 2008, 26,6 % in 2007, 25,6 % in the year 2006 and 23,8 % in 2005.

The highest growth rates of the year 2009 with more than 100 % could be found in Mexico which quadrupled its installed capacity, once again in Turkey (132 %) which had the highest rate in the previous year, in China (113 %) as well as in Morocco (104 %). It is encouraging to see that three of these four of the most dynamic markets can be found in Africa and in Latin America, both regions which are still lagging behind the rest of the world in the commercial use of wind power. Amongst the major markets, also the USA (39,3 %), Canada (40,1 %) and France (32,8 %) showed growth rates above the average.

Leading wind markets 2009: China and USA strong, diversification continues:
In the year 2009, altogether 82 countries used wind energy on a commercial basis, out of which 49 countries increased their installed capacity. China and the USA established themselves as the by far largest markets for new wind capacity, together accounting for 61,9 % of the additional capacity, a share which was substantially bigger than in the previous year (53,7 %).

Nine further countries could be seen as major markets, with turbine sales in a range between 0,5 and 2,5 Gigawatt: Spain, Germany, India, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, Portugal, and Sweden.

Twelve markets for new wind turbines had a medium size between 100 and 500 Megawatt: Turkey, Australia, Denmark, Mexico, Brazil Ireland, Poland, Japan, New Zealand, Belgium, South Korea, and Greece.

The USA and China together represented 38,4 % of the global wind capacity. The top five countries (USA, China, Germany, Spain and India) represented 72,9 % of the worldwide wind capacity, slightly more than 72,4 % in the year 2008. Although mainly due to the strong performance of China and the USA the top 5 markets could increase their share, still it could be observed that the diversification continued as well and that more and more countries were deploying wind energy on a larger scale.

By end of 2009, 17 countries had installations of more than 1,000 Megawatt, compared with 16 countries end of 2008, 13 countries end of the year 2007, 11 end of 2005. Worldwide, 35 countries had wind farms with a capacity of 100 Megawatt or more installed, compared with 32 countries in the previous year and 24 countries four years ago.

A major newcomer on the list is a Latin American country, Nicaragua, which for the first time installed a larger grid-connected wind farm with the size of 40 Megawatt.

Wind share in electricity supply:
All wind turbines installed globally by the end of the year 2009 contribute 340 Terawatthours to the worldwide electricity supply which represents 2 % of the global electricity demand.
This energy amount equals the electricity needs of Italy, an industrialised country with 60 million inhabitants and the seventh largest economy of the world. In some countries and regions wind has become one of the largest electricity sources, the highest shares being:

- Denmark: 20 %
- Portugal: 15 %
- Spain: 14 %
- Germany: 9 %

Offshore wind turbines:
Offshore wind capacity continued to grow in the year 2009. By the end of the year, wind farms installed in the sea could be found in twelve countries, ten of them in Europe and some minor installations in China and Japan. Total installed capacity amounted to almost two Gigawatt, 1,2 % of the total wind capacity worldwide.

Wind turbines with a capacity of 454 Megawatt were added in 2009, with major new offshore wind farms in Denmark, the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden and China. The growth rate of offshore wind is with 30 % slightly below the general growth rate of wind power.

In Denmark, so far the largest offshore wind farm was inaugurated in the North Sea: Horns Rev II, 209 Megawatt. China installed the first major offshore wind farm outside of Europe – a 21 Megawatt, near Shanghai.

Employment in the wind sector:
Also in 2009 the wind sector worldwide was a major job generator and created new employment: By the end of 2009, 550,000 persons were employed worldwide directly and indirectly in the various branches of the wind sector.

Within only four years, the wind sector worldwide more than doubled the number of jobs from 235,000 in 2005 to 550,000 in the year 2009. These 550,000 employees in the wind sector worldwide, most of them highly-skilled jobs, are contributing to the generation of 340 TWh of electricity. By the end of the year 2010, 670,000 employees are expected, and in 2012, the number of jobs is expected to reach one million.

For more information please contact Trevor Sievert at ts@windfair.net