Market opportunity
Wind power is now the world's fastest growing source of power generation. The installed generating capacity of wind power is expected to continue to grow at annual rates in excess of 30% for the next five years.
GreenWing has targeted one of the fastest growing and most prolific wind power markets – North America. The growth in demand for wind power in the U.S. and Canada has been unprecedented. Fossil fuel price uncertainties and increasing desire and need for carbon-free sources of power generation have combined to drive this robust growth. As an experienced developer, GreenWing is well positioned to be a leader in meeting electricity energy needs.
The United States Market
The U.S. power market is by far the largest in North America with approximately 1,000,000MW of installed capacity. The installed capacity of wind power facilities totals 16,818 MW of capacity spanning 34 states. U.S. wind facilities will generate an estimated 48 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of wind energy in 2008 or just over 1% of the total U.S. electricity demand. Wind power will supply the electrical energy needs of over 4.5 million homes.
Shattering all records, the U.S. wind energy industry installed 5,244 megawatts (MW) in 2007, expanding the nation’s total wind power generating capacity by 45% in a single calendar year. This record development was responsible for injecting an investment of over $9 billion into the U.S. economy.
Wind power’s strong performance is expected to continue: the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) predicts that 2008 could equal or exceed 2007 in new wind capacity installed.
Highlights
- Installed U.S. wind Power Capacity surged 45% in 2007
- Installations in the last quarter of 2007 alone (2,930 MW) surpassed the amount installed in all of 2006 (2,454 MW).
- The US wind power market is expected to grow from 11,000 MW in 2006 to nearly 50,000 MW by 2015, averaging over $5 billion per year during the forecast period (Emerging Energy Research)
- The states with the most installed wind power capacity are:
|
| Texas |
- 4356 MW |
| California |
- 2439 MW |
| Minnesota |
- 1299 MW |
| Iowa |
- 1273 MW |
| Washington |
- 1163 MW |
The Table below shows the Top 10 wind power markets in the World – the United States in first position and Canada is in 10th position.
Top 10 annual markets in the world (MW)
The Canadian Market
Canada has 1,846 MW of installed wind energy capacity. A total of 386 MW of new wind energy capacity was installed in 2007, increasing Canada’s total by 26%.
Canada enters 2008 with signed contracts in place for the installation of an additional 2,800 MW of wind energy, most of which is to be installed by 2010.
Several competitive tendering processes for wind energy were launched in 2007 in Manitoba, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and in early 2008, this is expected to lead to the signing of an additional 2,800 MW of contracts for new wind energy facilities.
In 2008, Ontario is planning to issue a call for 500 MW of renewable energy (most of which is likely to be supplied by wind), Quebec will issue calls for 500 MW of wind energy and British Columbia will issue a major call for clean power. Wind energy has the potential to meet a full 20% of Canada’s electricity needs. All indications are for Canada to see unprecedented growth in wind energy development over the next decade.
Europe
By the end of 2007, there was 56,535 MW of wind power capacity installed in the EU-27, of which 55,860 MW was in the EU-15.
In the European Union (EU), installed wind power capacity has increased by an average of 25% annually over the past eleven years, from 4,753 MW in 1997 to 56,535 MW in 2007. In terms of annual installations, the EU market for wind turbines has grown by 19% annually, from 1,277 MW in 1997 to 8,554 MW in 2007. In 2007, Spain (3,522 MW) was by far the largest market for wind turbines, followed by Germany (1,667 MW), France (888 MW) and Italy (603 MW). |
