Greentech Lead Asia: Global installed wind farm capacity
of wind power will reach 1.062 million MW by 2017. Asia-Pacific is projected to
expand over the years at the highest CAGR of about 42.5 percent through 2017.
Depleting natural resources, increasing crude oil prices,
concerns on climate change, and rising demand for energy have driven this
growth in the global wind energy markets.
The market is expected to retain this pace of growth in
the years ahead. Wind energy represents the fastest growing energy source among
renewable resources.
Growth in the market would be led by developing regions,
primarily Asia-Pacific, with China and India, where increasingly deploying
clean energy resources to meet the rising energy needs.
China has overtaken developed countries in the West to
become the largest market in terms of total installed capacity in the year
2010. India and Brazil also increased their deployment of wind energy for past
few years.
Europe represents the largest market for wind energy
worldwide, in terms of installed capacity. Europe is losing market share to
Asia-Pacific, which is projected to emerge as the fastest growing regional
market for wind energy worldwide.
Manufacturers of wind turbines are facing the brunt of
oversupply of raw materials and a fall in their prices. Large scale decline in
the prices of raw materials, and increasing competition from the Chinese
manufacturers have forced the manufacturing companies in U.S. to cut production
and labor to become competitive.
With economic recovery plans, initiated to bail out
ailing industries in the wake of the global recession, gradually being phased
out worldwide, the prospects for clean energy sector appear to be tough in 2011
and in the near term.
The industry is faced with a situation where it is
required to be more cost-effective and competitive in the years ahead.
Demand-wise, substantial potential exists from the developed as well as
developing regions. This offers significant revenue potential for the industry
in the years ahead, alongside increasing demand from developing countries.
However, cost-effectiveness remains the key for the industry’s success in the
years ahead.
Onshore technology, which entails the establishment of wind farms on the land,
represents the largest segment in the global wind energy market. The share of
offshore turbines is likely to improve in the years as countries with long
coastlines look to take advantage of this geographical advantage to establish
offshore wind farms.
Although the cost of wind energy has drastically declined over the past few
years, a further reduction of 30 to 50 percent is required if wind energy is to
compete on par with conventional energies.