Globally wind power is rising to gale force

Globally wind power is rising but in US ever shifting political winds leave the industry in the doldrums. Wind power is growing, and it’s spreading throughout the globe. While Britain, Germany and Denmark may have led in wind power development, China is now the single biggest producer, followed by the US and then India. Brazil, Mexico and South Africa are coming on strong. Several other countries in Asia and Latin America are making a big push. And in frontier markets, from the Middle East to Eastern Africa, wind is beginning to present itself as a serious energy alternative. “Worldwide, it’s coming and it’s coming very fast,” said Carsten Jensen, managing director in the US for wind energy consultants K2 Management. Part of this is energy diversification. But part is particular to wind power itself. That includes everything from the rapidly declining cost and technological advances to competition from a growing number of manufacturers. Bigger blades and larger turbines mean a more efficient and predictable power source. The cost of wind power keeps coming down. On a per kilowatt basis, new turbines cost anywhere from 20% to 40% less than they did in 2008, according to a report by the US DOE (Department of Energy). The cost to American utilities is now at a record low, according to the report.   “Increasingly, you’re seeing renewables like wind competitive in tenders open to all technologies,” said Jerome Guillet, Paris-based managing director of the renewable energy financial advisory firm Green Giraffe. 

Wind is now a $100 billion industry worldwide, with about 370GW installed by the end of last year. The Global Wind Energy Council projects that total will almost double by the end of 2019 to 666GW. Asia last year surpassed Europe in terms of installed wind capacity and there’s more to come, said Steve Sawyer, the council’s secretary general. He rattles off Asian countries, current wind leaders China and India, but also frontier markets from Mongolia to Pakistan, the Philippines to Sri Lanka. In Asia, “the demand for clean energy is huge,” he said.  While cheap natural gas continues to make that energy source more economical, wind has an inherent advantage: Installation and production costs are expected to continue to decline, while natural gas is expected to increase in price over the coming years.  That kind of predictable cash flow is becoming more and more attractive to long-term investors. “When investors are looking into investing, they’re looking at a 20-year fuel cost,” said Leila Garcia, a consultant with wind energy consultancy MAKE. “Wind has a more predictable return.” On the other hand, wind power isn’t constant and not well suited for base-load generation. Garcia calls wind “complementary” to natural gas, which will continue to “maintain its leading position,” she said. “Both will have their place in the energy mix.” China’s impressive wind power push has occurred largely under the radar. In 2014, it installed a phenomenal 23.2GW, increasing its installed capacity by a whopping 25% to 114.6GW, according to statistics provided by the Global Wind Energy Council. China had originally set 200GW wind power by 2020, but that’s now been increased to 250GW. According to Energy Digital, Beijing-based Goldwind Science and Technology Co. is now the world’s second-largest wind turbine manufacturer, behind only longtime leader Vestas. China’s Ming Yang and United Power are also in the top 10, although all three manufacturers are almost exclusively focused on the China market. China has made a political decision to crank up its wind industry, much as it has done with solar. The US, on the other hand, often whipsaws between competing political and business interests and installations vary widely from year to year. The primary incentive mechanism, the Production Tax Credit, is subject to Congressional tampering and wind advocates are concerned about another assault on the PTC when it expires the end of next year. While wind supplies only about 5% of America’s total electricity, it’s upwards of 40% in Denmark, 25% in Ireland, and more than 20% in Portugal and Spain.