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India: Third biggest market for wind energy
By A Business Correspondent
India has established itself as the third biggest wind energy market worldwide in terms of new installations, and 875 mw was added during 2004. The country is expected to get ahead of the former pioneer country Denmark —with an increase of only 7 mw—soon and become number four in terms of total capacity.
8,321 mw of new capacity were added in 2004 as against 8,129 mw in 2003. The new leader in terms of new installation was Spain with 2,061 mw, thus for the first time taking over the number one position from Germany (2,020 mw). Germany, however, remains the leading country in terms of overall capacity representing one third of the global wind energy installations. The Australian-Pacific region showed the highest growth rates of all continents: the installed capacity reached 547 mw compared with 233 mw in 2003, equalling a growth rate of 135 per cent.
However, the global rate of growth fell from 26 per cent in 2003 down to 21 per cent. This is due to the fact that the wind industry has lost momentum, especially in former traditional core markets like Denmark, USA and Germany.
Asia represented 4,726 mw or 9.9 per cent of the global wind energy market in 2004 (in 2003, the share was at 8.2 per cent). India is the leading wind energy market on the Asian continent with additional capacity of 875 mw, and a growth rate of 42 per cent. Amongst the leading countries in Asia are Japan (896 mw), which had the highest growth rate in Asia (77.1 per cent) amongst the major Asian markets, and China (764 mw), which after the World Wind Energy Conference 2004 and the recent approval of the renewable energy legislation, is expected to have substantial further growth in the near future.
It is interesting to mention that Japan, with an additional capacity of 390 mw, has topped the United States and represented the fourth largest wind energy market worldwide in terms of new installations. Another interesting market in the coming years is going to be Pakistan where the government has approved an ambitious wind energy programme.
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Worldwide Wind Energy
Installation as on December 31, 2004 |
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Installed
Capacity 2004 (MW)
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Installed
Capacity 2003 (MW)
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World
Market Share in 2004 [%]
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World
Market Share in 2003 [%]
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Africa
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391,7
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271,5
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0,8
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0,7
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America
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7.335,5
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6.842,6
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15,4
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17,4
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Asia
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4.726,0
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3.217,6
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9,9
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8,2
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Australia Pacific
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546,9
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233,5
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1,1
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0,6
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Europe
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34.616,4
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28.730,2
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72,7
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73,1
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World
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47.616,4
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39.295,3
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100,0
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100,0
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[14 March 2005]
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