Global Wind Energy Installations Grow By 42% In 2014

Navigant Research has published its 20th edition of the annual World Wind Energy Market Update report, and it shows that worldwide wind power installations grew by 42% in 2014.

The report, which covers developments in the wind energy sector throughout 2014, also highlights the importance of China, Germany, and the United States in the global wind industry’s “remarkable comeback in 2014,” thanks to “policy-driven acceleration of installations.”

Furthermore, countries such as Brazil, Turkey, France, and Canada “also helped sustain a strong foundation for the industry” as it continues to mature, both technologically, financially, and in terms of its general reliability around the world.

“The wind power industry achieved a record year of installations in 2014, setting the stage for steady growth in the coming years,” said Jesse Broehl, senior research analyst with Navigant Research. “The industry’s development is being bolstered by key established markets and increasingly supported by new and diversified global markets.”

Due to the return to form of the wind industry in the US and Germany, Navigant Research notes that “there was a significant shake-up in the rankings of the world’s top 10 wind turbine suppliers in 2014.” The top 10 looks like this:

• Vestas
• Siemens
• GE Energy
• Goldwind
• Enercon
• Suzlon Group
• United Power
• Gamesa
• Ming Yang
• Envision

Top 10 Wind Turbine Suppliers, World Markets: 2014 

In terms of demand highlights, 51.2 GW of new wind capacity was installed in 2014, a new total yearly capacity record, bringing the cumulative installed capacity up to 372 GW by the end of the year. Asia now leads as the continent with the most cumulative capacity, hosting 37.3% of all the wind power capacity, 1.5 percentage points above former leader Europe, which accounted for 23.7% of 2014 installations.

Brazil tripled new installations, adding 2.8 GW in 2014, while the leaders saw China install 23.3 GW, Germany with 5.1 GW and the United States with 4.9 GW.