{"id":15508,"date":"2013-04-03T10:49:17","date_gmt":"2013-04-03T16:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=15508"},"modified":"2013-04-03T10:49:17","modified_gmt":"2013-04-03T16:49:17","slug":"world-wind-power-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/world-wind-power-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"After Record 2012, World Wind Power Set to Top 300,000 Megawatts in 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"wind<\/a><\/p>\n

By J. Matthew Roney<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even amid policy uncertainty in major wind power markets<\/a>, wind developers still managed to set a new record for installations in 2012, with 44,000 megawatts of new wind capacity worldwide. With total capacity exceeding 280,000 megawatts, wind farms generate carbon-free electricity in more than 80 countries, 24 of which have at least 1,000 megawatts. At the European level of consumption<\/a>, the world\u2019s operating wind turbines could satisfy the residential electricity needs of 450 million people.<\/p>\n

\"World<\/p>\n

China installed some 13,000 megawatts of wind in 2012, according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC). This was a marked slowdown from the previous two years, when new installations averaged 18,000 megawatts annually. Reasons for the drop-off include concerns about project quality and inadequate electricity transmission and grid infrastructure, which prompted the government to approve fewer projects and to restrict lending. Still, all told, China leads the world with 75,000 megawatts of wind capacity: more than a quarter of the world total.<\/p>\n

In a country more readily associated with coal-fired electricity and nuclear power ambitions, wind reached some impressive milestones in China\u2019s energy mix in 2012. Wind-generated electricity increased<\/a> more than coal-fired electricity did for the first time.\u00a0 Even more remarkable, the electricity produced by wind farms over the course of the year exceeded<\/a> that produced by nuclear power plants. And this is just the beginning: with massive wind projects under development across its northern and eastern provinces, and 19 ultra-high-voltage transmission projects connecting windy rural areas to population centers (all to be completed by 2014), more milestones lie ahead in China. Consulting firms GTM Research and Azure International project<\/a> that China will reach 140,000 megawatts of wind by 2015 and nearly 250,000 megawatts by 2020.<\/p>\n

The U.S. wind industry made headlines too. More new wind electricity generating capacity was added in 2012 than any other generation technology, including natural gas\u2014a record 13,100 megawatts. An incredible 5,200 megawatts, spread among 59 wind farms, came online in December alone as developers raced to qualify for the federal production tax credit before it expired at the end of the year. The United States remains second only to China, with 60,000 total megawatts of wind capacity\u2014enough to power more than 14 million U.S. homes.<\/p>\n

Several U.S. states have more installed wind capacity than most countries do. The 12,200 megawatts in Texas and the 5,500 megawatts in California, for example, would rank them sixth and eleventh, respectively, on the world wind power list. In Texas, a further 21,000 megawatts of wind projects are under consideration, much of which could be accommodated by the \u201cCompetitive Renewable Energy Zones\u201d high-voltage transmission projects scheduled for completion by the end of 2013. These new lines will connect wind-rich West Texas and the panhandle with high-demand markets to the east. (See data<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Wind farms generated at least 10 percent<\/a> of the electricity produced in nine states in 2012, up from five states the year before. Iowa and South Dakota got nearly a quarter of their electricity from wind. Oregon\u2019s 845-megawatt Shepherd\u2019s Flat wind farm, commissioned in 2012, is North America\u2019s largest. But in Carbon County, Wyoming, a project of up to 3,000 megawatts is under development.<\/p>\n

To the north, Canada\u2019s 6,500 megawatts of wind power are sufficient to meet the electricity needs of nearly 2 million households. As Ontario, the country\u2019s most populous province, works to phase out coal-fired power by 2014, its wind generation is growing\u2014in fact, Ontario\u2019s wires carried more electricity from wind than from coal for the first time in 2012.<\/p>\n

\"wind<\/a><\/p>\n

The European Union (EU) added more megawatts of wind in 2012 than it did natural gas, coal, or nuclear, even as fiscal austerity measures cut renewable energy incentives. Several EU member states lead the world in the share of electricity they get from wind farms. Spain and Portugal typically have a 16 percent wind share. In Germany, whose 30,000 megawatts of wind capacity are the third highest in the world, the national wind share is 11 percent. Four of Germany\u2019s northern states now get roughly half of their electricity from wind.<\/p>\n

But it is Denmark that sets the bar for wind\u2019s role in electricity production. The Danish Wind Industry Association reports that wind farms generated 30 percent of Denmark\u2019s electricity in 2012, up from 28 percent in 2011. The government pledged in late 2011 to boost this share to 50 percent by 2020.<\/p>\n

Looking eastward, Romania and Poland each added roughly 900 megawatts of wind in 2012, reaching 2,500 and 1,900 megawatts, respectively. Turkey\u2019s goal is to reach 20,000 megawatts of wind in the next 10 years, nearly 10 times its current capacity.<\/p>\n

Aside from China, India is the other big Asian wind market. With over 18,000 megawatts installed, India ranks fifth worldwide in wind capacity. The government plans to spend roughly $8 billion on grid and transmission upgrades by 2017 through its \u201cgreen energy corridors\u201d plan. This is sorely needed in a country where nearly 300 million people do not have access to electricity.<\/p>\n

Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Oceania have enormous wind potential but little actual development thus far. Activity in each of these regions, however, indicates seriousness about harnessing the wind. In Latin America, Mexico more than doubled its wind capacity to almost 1,400 megawatts in 2012. Brazil, where wind installations grew 75 percent in 2012, could add another 1,500 megawatts in 2013 to reach 4,000 megawatts total.<\/p>\n

Just 100 megawatts of wind were installed in all of Africa in 2012, split between Ethiopia and Tunisia. Kenya\u2019s long-awaited 310-megawatt Lake Turkana wind farm, which could generate more than 10 percent of national electricity, has suffered multiple setbacks but may begin construction in 2013. No new wind projects came online in the Middle East. Jordan is looking to grow its currently negligible wind power to 1,200 megawatts by 2020, however, and plans are also under way in Israel and Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

In Australia, the goal is to get 20 percent of electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Half of the country\u2019s current 2,600 megawatts of wind is in the state of South Australia, where wind farms generated 24 percent of all electricity in 2012. The January 2013 commissioning of the 420-megawatt Macarthur wind farm in the state of Victoria gets the country halfway to its expected 30 percent wind growth for the year.<\/p>\n

Most of the world\u2019s installed wind capacity is land-based; just 2 percent\u2014roughly 5,400 megawatts\u2014has been built offshore. Recently, however, offshore development has accelerated, more than tripling over the last five years. Ten of the 12 countries with offshore wind farms are European. The United Kingdom hosts more than half of the world\u2019s offshore capacity and aims for 18,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2020; its offshore wind resources are actually estimated to be 16 times larger than its electricity consumption. In Denmark, some 15 percent of electricity is expected to come from offshore wind farms by 2014.<\/p>\n

China and Japan are the only offshore wind producers outside of Europe, hosting 390 megawatts and 25 megawatts, respectively. With 130 megawatts installed in 2012 alone, China has quickly amassed the world\u2019s third largest offshore capacity figure; the country\u2019s near-term offshore targets are 5,000 megawatts by 2015 and 30,000 by 2020. In the wake of the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, Japan is looking to harness more of its offshore wind, a resource plentiful enough to meet national electricity needs nearly three times over. And in South Korea, numerous offshore projects are under way, as the country\u2019s wind industry aims to reach 23,000 megawatts of wind power by 2030.<\/p>\n

According to Navigant Research, new wind installations worldwide will fall to some 40,000 megawatts in 2013. This would be the first instance in at least 17 years when annual additions did not increase year-to-year. Much of this deceleration will likely be the result of a slowdown in U.S. development. Still, the annual market is expected to rebound in 2014 as costs continue to fall, as major players recover, and as newcomers in Africa, the Middle East, and the Baltic region begin to realize their wind ambitions. GWEC and Greenpeace International project<\/a> at least 425,000 megawatts of wind capacity worldwide by 2015\u2014enough to generate electricity for all of Central and South America. The world is starting to realize that wind\u2019s potential is almost without limit.<\/p>\n

Copyright<\/a> \u00a9 2013 Earth Policy Institute<\/p>\n

Image credits:<\/strong> dibytes<\/a> via photopin<\/a> cc<\/a>; PXLated<\/a> via photopin<\/a> cc<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even amid policy uncertainty in major wind power markets, wind developers still managed to set a new record for installations in 2012, with 44,000 megawatts of new wind capacity worldwide. With total capacity exceeding 280,000 megawatts, wind farms generate carbon-free electricity in more than 80 countries, 24 of which have at least 1,000 megawatts. At the European level of consumption, the world\u2019s operating wind turbines could satisfy the residential electricity needs of 450 million people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":15510,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,7],"tags":[436,273,102,52,2013,109,89],"yoast_head":"\nWorld Wind Power Still Growing in 2013<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After a record-setting 2012, the world wind market continues to grow, and should top 300,000 megawatts by the end of 2013.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/world-wind-power-2013\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"World Wind Power Still 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