BTM report reveals rise in global wind energy capacity

New installed global wind-power capacity should rise 16.6 percent on average per year in the next four years, with Europe leading world demand, an industry report showed on Thursday. In 2005, growth is expected to be around 26 percent. The report by Danish consultancy BTM showed that total wind-power capacity grew 20 percent to almost 48,000 megawatts last year - enough to fuel about 16 million homes - although growth in 2004 was lower than in 2003. "This is the first time since 1996 that stagnation in new installation has been observed, a temporary event mainly caused by the drop in the US market," the report said. Last year, 8,154 megawatts of new capacity was added, a decrease in annual installation of 2.3 percent compared with the record year 2003. The industry has shown an average growth of 15.8 percent over the past five years.

The BTM report also said that the top 10 manufacturers supplied almost 96.1 percent of new energy last year. Denmark's Vestas maintained its leading position and increased its market share to 34.1 percent. Spain's Gamesa Eolica advanced to second place with 18.1 percent of new installations ahead of Germany's Enercon with 15.8 percent, US company GE Wind with 11.3 percent and Germany's Siemens at 6.2 percent. Europe accounted for 73 percent of all new installations in 2004, but Germany, the world's largest market in terms of installing new capacity for a decade, was overtaken by Spain. BTM said Europe would maintain its leading role until 2009 and account for 58 percent of cumulative demand.