By the end of 2014, more than 370 gigawatts [GW] of wind electricity were in operation worldwide, providing 5% of the world’s electricity demand. The 21 member countries of the International Energy Agency Co-operative Agreement on Wind Energy (IEA Wind) are world leaders in this wind deployment with nearly 85 percent of worldwide wind capacity.
The IEA Wind 2014 Annual Report, just released, documents the activities and accomplishments of participating countries – generation capacity, progress toward national objectives, benefits to national economies, issues affecting growth, costs of projects and turbines, national incentive programs, and research and development results.
In 2014, six countries increased capacity by more than 20%: Finland (40%), Mexico (34%), China (25%), Canada (24%), Austria (24%), and Sweden (21%). In all, 15 IEA Wind member countries added more than 100 MW of new wind capacity, and six countries installed more than 1 GW: China (23.19 GW), Germany (4.91 GW), the United States (4.85 GW), Canada (1.80 GW), the United Kingdom (1.60 GW), and France (1.071 GW).
The annual report’s Executive Summary provides an overview and analysis of the information in 13 chapters from the co-operative research tasks and 22 chapters from the member countries, the Chinese Wind Energy Association, the European Commission, and the European Wind Energy Association. Data on capacity and generation since 1995 are also included in the Executive Summary.
IEA Wind member countries R&D collaboration has played a major role in addressing the most difficult to solve wind technology challenges; and collaboration will continue to be important as future challenges are identified and addressed. Member countries are located in Europe, North America, Asia, and the Pacific Region and are encouraging the addition of new countries to expand the benefits of this international co-operation.
Available for free download at www.ieawind.org:
IEA Wind 2014 Annual Report (2015) Implementing Agreement for Co-operation in the Research, Development, and Deployment of Wind Energy Systems, PWT Communications, LLC: Boulder, CO, 200 pages, ISBN 0-9905075-1-2, [www.ieawind.org].