China accounts for 24.5% of global wind energy capacity

A total of 18,405 megawatts of wind power were installed in the first half of this year around the world, up from 16,000 MW in 2010.

According to the World Wind Energy Association's mid-year report for 2011, China accounted for a huge chunk of the 2011 installations, with 8,000 MW of new wind power. The U.S. followed far behind, at 2,252 MW; that represents a big increase over a lackluster 2010 for the U.S., though, when 1,200 MW were added in the first six months of the year.

Some other countries adding a lot of wind capacity through June 2011 were India with 1,480 MW, Germany with 766 MW, and Canada with 603 MW. WWEA expects another 25,500 MW to be installed around the globe the rest of this year, bringing the total for 2011 to 43,900 MW. This represents almost a 17 percent increase over 2010's 37,642 MW.

The world's total wind energy capacity reached 215,000 MW at the end of June, and China accounted for an impressive 24.5 percent of that total, at 52,800 MW. The top five countries on the capacity list -- China, U.S., Germany, Spain, and India -- own almost three quarters of the world's capacity.

Notably, though, the global wind energy market is expanding. There are now 86 countries using wind energy, with Venezuela, Honduras, and Ethiopia as the latest to join group. Countries outside the top 10 in capacity now account for about 14 percent of the world's total.

 
"We hope that especially the UN climate change conference in Durban will lead to better frameworks for wind energy mainly in developing countries. Amongst the industrialized countries, we expect that Japan will play an active and positive role in wind power in the foreseeable future and join soon the group of leading wind countries,” said Stefan Gsanger, the secretary general of WWEA.