China continues to assert its new dominance on the global wind power map. By the end of 2010, China had edged past USA to emerge as the biggest country in terms of aggregate installed wind power capacity. As of end-2011, China continued to be at the top, with the gap between itself and second-seeded USA widening by a big margin. According to statistics recently released by GWEC, China added as much as 18 GW of wind power capacity to end 2011 with a cumulative score of 62.73 GW. USA that could add 6.81 GW in 2011 ranked second with 46.92 GW.

Despite general recessionary trends, worldwide wind power capacity addition stood at 41.236 GW-of course largely helped by China's 18 GW-as against 38.83 GW in 2010. India too had something to cheer, clocking 3.02 GW of new additions in 2010-the highest in any year-during 2011. As at the end of 2011, India's cumulative wind power capacity was 16.08 GW earning it the fifth rank, trailing behind Germany (29.06 GW) and Spain (21.67 GW) at third and fourth spots.

China's performance during the past four to five years has been sensational. For instance, the 18 GW that it could add in 2011 was much more than India's cumulative achievement. China single-handedly contributed to nearly 45 per cent of the new wind power capacity addition in 2011. With such high levels of new additions, China has seen its market share increasing over the years. In 2009, when it ranked third, it had a global market share of 16 per cent in terms of installed capacity. Come 2010, this improved to 23 per cent, only to climb up to 27 per cent in 2011. In terms of total capacity, China will continue to occupy first place even if the pace of addition were to slow down in the coming years. The gap between China and USA today is around 16 GW-something that will take US at least three years to bridge, based on recent performance.

The world ranking table, in terms of the top five countries, is unlikely to change much in the near future. China will continue to lead, and even aggrandizing its global share in the years ahead. USA does not face competition from third-ranking Germany, nor will it be able to come anywhere close to China in the foreseeable future. Spain, which ranked fourth in 2011, is seeing a gradual decline in new wind power additions. This could be partly explained by the European country's shift to solar power and a gradual withdrawal of wind power related subsidies. India has a chance to scale up its ranking in the coming years. In 2011, India added new capacity comparable to Germany and Spain put together. If India's momentum continues, it could outpace Spain to earn fourth rank. It should also be appreciated that Germany and Spain have much smaller geographical area compared to India. Hence, new capacity additions in these European nations will be limited, unless offshore wind farms pick up in a big way. India also has no competition from sixth-ranking France with the difference between the two countries being nearly 9 GW. Over the recent past, France has been adding less than 1 GW annually.

Global wind power installations have risen substantially during this decade growing at an annual average of 25 per cent, making it the biggest contributor to the world's renewable energy endeavours. As of end-2011, global wind power capacity stood at 238.35 GW as against 74.06 GW in 2006 and 23.90 GW in 2001.

Global Wind Power Capacity
(mw)
	As of	Additions	As of	Addtions	As of
	31-Dec-09	in 2010	31-Dec-10	in 2011	31-Dec-11
China	25,805	18,928	44,733	18,000	62,733
USA	35,086	5,115	40,298	6,810	46,919
Germany	25,777	1,493	27,191	2,086	29,060
Spain	19,160	1,516	20,623	1,050	21,674
India	10,926	2,139	13,065	3,019	16,084
France	4,574	1,086	5,970	830	6,800
Italy	4,849	948	5,797	950	6,747
UK	4,245	962	5,248	1,293	6,540
Canada	3,319	690	4,008	1,267	5,265
Portugal	3,535	363	3,706	377	4,083
Rest of World	21,632	5,588	26,998	5,554	32,446
Top 10	137,276	33,240	170,639	35,682	205,905
World Total	158,908	38,828	197,637	41,236	238,351
Source: Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC)

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