Wind Energy Industry Recovering

Wind Energy Industry Recovering

While global installed wind energy capacity increased dramatically during 2006-2009, the global recession sparked a 13.8% fall in annual additions during 2010, when major wind markets, including the US, Germany and Spain, faced economic struggles as a result of the global recession. These markets are soon expected to recover thanks to a huge order intake by major wind manufacturers across emerging regions. Wind power manufacturers worldwide received a high order intake in 2010, with expected delivery deadlines in 2011 and 2012, contributing to the large total of annual installations expected this year.
According to GlobalData, the value of the global wind repowering market has increased significantly during the last five years. In 2005, wind sites were repowered to an estimated cumulative capacity of 877 megawatts (MW). Since this time, the cumulative installed capacity has risen dramatically to 2,499.4 MW. Still, this explored capacity represents only around 17% of the total global repowering potential, which is estimated to exceed 50,000 MW by 2020.
In 2011, wind farms producing around 182.6 GWh of power were replaced with turbines capable of generating 773.7 GWh of power. In 2020, the repowered wind farms are expected to increase their power generation from 1,523.5 to 8,221.1 GWh due to the higher capacity and efficiency of the new turbines.