Wind Power Soared Past 150,000 Megawatts in 2009

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Wind Power Soared Past 150,000 Megawatts in 2009

http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/indicators/C49/wind_power_2010

March 30, 2010
Wind Power Soared Past 150,000 Megawatts in 2009
J. Matthew Roney

Even in the face of a worldwide economic downturn, the global wind industry posted another record year in 2009 as cumulative installed wind power capacity grew to 158,000 megawatts. With this 31 percent jump, the global wind fleet is now large enough to satisfy the residential electricity needs of 250 million people. Wind provides electricity in over 70 countries, 17 of which now have at least 1,000 megawatts installed.

World Cumulative Installed Wind Power Capacity and Annual Addition, 1980-2009

China led the way in 2009 with an astonishing 13,000 megawatts of new wind capacity, the first time any country has built more than 10,000 megawatts in a single year. With 25,000 megawatts overall, China has doubled its total installed wind capacity in each of the last five years, bringing it into third place behind the United States and Germany. (See data). And considering the ambitious projects already in its development pipeline, it is not likely to stay in third place for long.

China’s unprecedented Wind Base program helps explain why. Six wind-rich provinces across the country’s northern half—from northwestern Xinjiang to eastern Jiangsu—have been selected to host seven wind mega-complexes of between 10,000 and 37,000 megawatts each. When complete, these “wind bases” will boast close to 130,000 megawatts of generating capacity, which is more than the entire world had at the end of 2008. Amendments to China’s landmark Renewable Energy Law of 2006, due to take effect in April 2010, aim to support this ambitious wind growth. Government agencies have been directed to determine and enforce the share of total electricity generation that must come from renewable sources, not unlike the renewable portfolio standards adopted by 29 U.S. states. The amendments will also provide for badly needed transmission lines and grid upgrades.

The United States passed longtime leader Germany in installed capacity in 2008 and then widened its lead in 2009, expanding its wind fleet by nearly 10,000 megawatts to reach a cumulative 35,000 megawatts. Texas remained the leading state in both annual and total wind installations, reaching 9,400 megawatts overall. And while Iowa is a distant second, with 3,700 megawatts of total wind capacity, at least 17 percent of its electricity generation comes from wind.

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Most of the world’s wind turbines are found on land, but offshore wind capacity is poised to grow rapidly from its current 2,100 megawatts. (See data).

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Having increased ninefold in total capacity since the start of the twenty-first century, wind power is quickly solidifying its position as an important part of the global energy mix. As governments look to reduce dependence on price-volatile fossil fuels and to cut carbon emissions, wind—a widespread, abundant, and inexhaustible resource with zero fuel cost—is becoming an increasingly attractive option. In a 2009 study of world wind resources, Harvard University scientists concluded that the top 10 carbon dioxide-emitting countries could satisfy all of their electricity needs using wind alone. The world will of course use a variety of technologies to meet future energy demand, but these findings leave no doubt: the potential for wind power to replace fossil fuels and take a leading role in stabilizing climate is huge.

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Mission

The Earth Policy Institute (EPI) was founded in 2001 by Lester Brown, the founder and former president of the Worldwatch Institute, to provide a plan of a sustainable future along with a roadmap of how to get from here to there. EPI works at the global level simply because no country can fully implement a Plan B economy in isolation.

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