China to remain world’s largest wind market until 2020

This despite lower growth due to poor infrastructure.

GlobalData estimates that China’s cumulative wind power installations have doubled annually between 2006 and 2011. The compound annual growth for the Chinese wind industry was 76% from 2006 to 2012. GlobalData traced this to market guidance and government perks, including financial and regulatory initiatives that boosted renewable energy and clean technology sources.

GlobalData’s said the outlook for the wind energy sector appears positive, although future growth is expected to slow down during the forecast period. This is mainly due to continuing uncertainties in the US and the maturing European wind power market. China’s wind power growth rate, however, will slow down in the forecast period due to insufficient infrastructure, low quality wind turbines, and questionable pricing policies.

The global offshore market is also expected to grow significantly between now and 2020, with capacity eventually reaching 51.2 GW in 2020 from 5.5 GW in 2012, a CAGR growth rate of 32.3%. China, the USA, Germany, the UK, Italy, Spain and India together accounted for 74% of the globally installed capacity in 2012.