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Clean Power top wind power countries per capita pie

Published on June 20th, 2013 | by Zachary Shahan

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Top Wind Power Countries Per Capita (CleanTechnica Exclusive)

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June 20th, 2013 by Zachary Shahan 

Absolute Wind Power Leaders In 2012

In absolute terms, as with basically every year, the two largest economies of the world (by far) dominated new wind power installation capacity. They also still dominate cumulative wind power capacity, accounting for nearly 50% of world wind power capacity together. Germany, the world’s 4th largest economy, came in at #3 in both those rankings. Here are GWEC’s charts on these matters:

top wind power countries GWEC

Wind power around the world grew by a record amount in 2012, and global wind power capacity is now approaching 300 GW (300,000 MW), which we reported just this week it is expected to pass in 2013.

global wind power trends gwec



The regional variations are always interesting to look at. Asia’s massive rise in wind power installations dropped off a bit in 2012, but it still led the world, inching above US-led North America. Europe was not far behind those two, but was in a clear #3 spot. Compared to those giants, the growth in other regions looks minimal, but there has been a noticeable uptick in Latin America in recent years, with 2012 clearly being its best year to date.

wind power capacity by region

As far as the coming years are concerned, policy uncertainty in the US, Europe, and Asia make projections very difficult, but for various policy reasons, 2013 is projected to actually see a drop in worldwide wind power growth. That is projected to pick up again in the following years, but not to an exceptional degree. Nonetheless, the growth should be fairly strong and steady. However, even two years out is very hard to predict given the great economic and political variability across the world — in this industry and others. We’ll have to wait to see, but this is GWEC’s best bet:

wind power growth forecast global

Check out the GWEC report for country-specific commentary, charts, and more.

Thoughts?

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About the Author

spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as the director/chief editor. Otherwise, he's probably enthusiastically fulfilling his duties as the director/editor of Solar Love, EV Obsession, Planetsave, or Bikocity. Zach is recognized globally as a solar energy, electric car, and wind energy expert. If you would like him to speak at a related conference or event, connect with him via social media. You can connect with Zach on any popular social networking site you like. Links to all of his main social media profiles are on ZacharyShahan.com.


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  • kasy

    what does Denmark use all the wind energy on?

    • Bob_Wallace

      Keeping lights lit.

      (Were you asking a different question?)

  • http://drjagadeeshncda.blogspot.com/ Anumakonda Jagadeesh

    Outstanding post.
    Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India

  • Rockne O’Bannon

    Japan. Just entirely out of the running for wind, and I really don’t understand why. NIMBY is strong there, but one would think that many coastal areas could be used.

    • Bob_Wallace

      Japan is putting a major push on offshore wind. They’ve got two floating turbines in the water and are studying the best/cheapest floatation design ideas. As soon as they sort out this basic engineering task they intend to mount a very strong campaign to get a lot of wind on their grid.

      • Rockne O’Bannon

        I live in Japan. I know what is going on. And No. No they aren’t mounting a major push. I think “they have two floating turbines in the water” sums it up best. They have been “studying it” for at least two decades. I visited the largest site in this half of Japan a decade ago, and I think it had 7-10 turbines.
        And no, engineering is not a problem. And no, the FiT is not the problem because although it gives much higher rates than for solar, there are few takers. Very few.
        As the data show, Japan is woefully behind. Their population and GNP dictate that even if they tripled their output next year, it would be a pitiful performance. Given the amount of wind they get and the length of their coastline, it boggles the mind that they are so far behind. Waiting… waiting….

        • Bob_Wallace

          Try reading more carefully.

          ” As soon as they sort out this basic engineering task they intend to mount a very strong campaign to get a lot of wind on their grid.”

          • Rockne O’Bannon

            Ah yes. I see. Well. That explains everything! Thanks Bob!

    • Rick Kargaard

      Offshore requires shallow waters which is probably scarce in largely volcanic Japan. They have a lot of siesmic activity as well, which could be hard on towers.

      • Bob_Wallace

        Floaters.

        Japan already has two in the water. They’re researching the best platform design for their conditions and plan on some very large floating farms in the very near future.

        Europe has a few floaters in the water. Oregon is getting four soon.

        It’s the early days of design perfection. It will probably take a few years to nail down the specifics and then deep water offshore is likely to take off.

        There are incredible resources off the Pacific coast north of SF. And it’s deep.

      • Rockne O’Bannon

        Nope. Neither of those is a factor. In fact, Japan has huge shallow water areas in what are called its “inland sea” and shoals along both coasts.
        It remains the third largest economy in the world with …”two in the water” as someone said.
        Seismic activity has not prevented the installation and use of land based wind faciilities, which have been operating about two decades now. And Japan’s major cities have plenty of skyscrapers. I don’t think even the world’s strongest earthquakes are much of a deterrent to Japan.

  • chlobirdcity

    Recently I was really, really low on money and debts were eating me from all sides! That was UNTIL I decided to make money.. on the internet! I went to surveymoneymaker dot net, and started filling in surveys for cash, and surely I’ve been far more able to pay my bills!! I’m so glad, I did this! With all the financial stress these years, I really hope all of you will give it a chance. – yf6p

  • Benoit

    Where’s Belgium ?
    I don’t see it anywhere, yet in 2011 Belgium had 98.44 MW per million people.
    Any other missing countries in the GWEC report ?

  • JamesWimberley

    Now these pie charts make no sense at all. The slices are percentages of what?

    • http://zacharyshahan.com/ Zachary Shahan

      % of total world wind power capacity per capita in countries with any notable amt of wind power.

      % of new world wind power capacity per capita in countries with any notable amt of wind power.

      thought it was pretty obvious. apparently not…

      • JamesWimberley

        No it isn’t. “Total wind power capacity per capita” is an average. Denmark is well above it, so the ratio of Danish wind power per capita to the world average is >100%. You can use a bar chart for this data series, but not a pie.
        Buy Tufte.

        • Bob_Wallace

          Pfffffffffffff….

          If you need to display >100% of the pie just use a “pie and a slice” graph.

  • Chris McLeod

    It seems to me that Denmark would be THE place to do a health study to determine (or debunk) the effects of wind turbines on human health. With this kind of concentration just about the whole country must live near a wind turbine.

    • http://zacharyshahan.com/ Zachary Shahan

      Ha, yes!

      But there’s a problem — much of the wind power is owned by local residents (through coops). So, the NIMBYism that creates the “wind turbine syndrome” isn’t present. So, the wind power NIMBYs wouldn’t have anything to show. :D

      • http://zacharyshahan.com/ Zachary Shahan

        But yes, if your point was that genuine researchers should do a study or more there, I definitely agree,

        • Chris McLeod

          That was my point. With Denmark having more than six times the density of wind power as Australia, they should have six times the number of hens that don’t lay, or whatever it is people most often complain about

          • http://zacharyshahan.com/ Zachary Shahan

            Yeah, I know, I was just being playful — agree with you 100%.

    • Ross

      There used to be a lot of fear about mobile phone masts before the wind farms came along.

      The common cure for these conditions seems to be money.

      • Bob_Wallace

        I guess money it is. Facts and logic don’t reach through to the ones most inflicted with misinformation.

    • http://www.duurzamebrabanders.nl/blog Henk Daalder Windparken Wiki

      WTS does not exist.
      This is proven by hundreds of farmer families that live within 100 meter of their own large windturbine.There is no WTS in these families.

      This proves that WTS complaints canot come from the tuerbine noise itself.
      Probably wts is put in the minds of these people by stories op opponents of wind farms.
      It is the negative propaganda that makes people ill
      Part of this negativce propaganda is that some governments follow neoliberal patterns where only businesses get help from the government, and citizens do not get a chance to participate and invest in these turbines.

      A good followup on this article would be a comparison of the various stimulation and support programs all these countries have in place.

      And find a common denominator for succesful countries.
      I think that local ownership is part of this, especially for communities that have not very much experience with wind turbines.

      EG in Denmark, commercial windfarm developers are obliged to sell at least 20% of their project to citizens in the area. In practice more that 70% of all wind farms is owned by citizens, not businesses.

    • Paul Caden

      most of their power is produced offshre along their coasts, I believe…

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