Welcome ! As a young French Marketing professional with a Master's in International Management I have been selecting since January 2007 the latest headlines and best researches on sustainable development, climate change, cleantech and the world energy sector. Sounds great ? Don't hesitate to subscribe now !

Feb

World’s latest news on wind power

On Wednesday, February 4 , 2009 | Tags: Business, China, Energy, Europe, Global Wind Energy Council, Mexico, Renewables, USA, Wind

According to the Global Wind Energy Council, global wind power capacity reached 120 GW in 2008. This represents an increase of 28.8 percent compared to 2007. All these installations totaled $47 billion.

This is the occasion for me to present you the various news I came across on this topic in the past few weeks. From Mexico to Europe and from Kenya to the United States or China this sector is booming globally.

These are truly news to spread as I was astonished by the amount of projects in this sector in the very next years and many more gigawatts will be installed.

According to the Global Wind Energy Council :

The leading markets in terms of new installed capacity in 2008 were the US and China. New US wind energy installations totalled 8,358 MW for a total installed capacity of 25,170 MW the US has now officially overtaken Germany (23,902 MW) as number one in wind power. Europe and North America are running neck-to-neck, with about 8.9 GW each of new installed capacity in 2008, with Asia closely following with 8.6 GW.

(…) The growth in Asia’s markets has also been breathtaking; close to a third of all new capacity in 2008 was installed on the Asian continent. In particular, the wind energy boom is continuing in China, which once again doubled its installed capacity by adding about 6.3 GW, reaching a total of 12.2 GW.

“The Chinese wind energy market is going from strength to strength, and has once again doubled in size compared to 2007, reaching over 12 GW of total installed capacity,” said Shi Pengfei, Vice President of the Chinese Wind Energy Association (CWEA). “The outlook for the coming years is also very healthy.”

In its response to the financial crisis, the Chinese government has identified the development of wind energy as one of the key economic growth areas.

“In 2009, new installed capacity is expected to nearly double again, which will be one third or more of the world’s total new installed capacity for the year,” said Li Junfeng, Secretary General of the Chinese Renewable Energy Industry Association (CREIA).

—

Below are a selection of news worth spreading:

Germany will build in the very next years an offshore wind farm totaling 960 MW in the North Sea. This project will cover around 150 square kilometers. Due to be completed by 2015, it will cost 2.8 billion euros ($3.7 billion).

Read this article from TreeHugger to learn out more.

—

The United States became last year the world leader in wind power and may reach the target of 20 percent of its electricity from this renewable energy source by 2030. This target is possible according to the Department of Energy.

Read this article from Clean Technica to learn out more.

—

Mexico is investing more than half a billion US dollars and plans to build a wind farm of 250 MW within ten years. This project is due to offset the emissions of emissions of the local cement industry.

Check out this article from TreeHugger for more.

—

Kenya plans to erect a wind farm that will provide up to 30 percent of its electricity needs. 300 MW will be operational by as early as 2012. Ecogeek believes this could enable Africa to leapfrog fossil fuels and thus become the greenest continent.