U.S. Wind Power Makes Strong Finish in 2012 with 13,124 Megawatts Added, Just Shy of China

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The U.S. enjoyed a late surge in wind power installations in 2012, driven by the expiration of the Production Tax Credit (PTC), to reach 13,124 megawatts (MW) of new capacity for the year. This total was just short of China's total of 13,200 MW of new wind capacity in 2012, according to the latest data released by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).

Australia ranked 15th in installed new capacity in 2012 with 358 MW added, for a total capacity of 2,584 MW. In the overall world ranking, Australia is 17th behind 11 European countries, China, India, Japan, the U.S. and Canada. In terms of regions, Asia leads, with North America a close second and Europe a close third. Steve Sawyer, secretary general of GWEC, forecasts that the U.S. market will likely slow in 2013, but not by as much as once feared due to the "13th hour" extension of the tax credit.

Globally, 44,711 MW was installed during the year, with Asia leading the growth, despite slight slowdowns in China and India. The wind energy market grew 10% in 2012 and has shown cumulative growth of almost 19% over the past few years.

Canada had a solid year and Mexico more than doubled its installed capacity, adding 801 MW for a total of 1,370 MW. Mexico is now the 24th country with more than 1,000 MW of wind power capacity.

European markets were marked by strong contributions from "emerging markets" in Sweden, Romania, Italy and Poland, although the outlook is uncertain for the 2013 market due to the ongoing sovereign debt crises.

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