Wind-power capacity will more than double by 2016 as growing installations in newer markets such as India and Brazil counter weakness in the U.S., where additions are set to decline next year, according to an industry lobby.
“The single greatest factor affecting the global market in 2012 will be the debate on the future of the U.S. Production Tax Credit,” Steve Sawyer, the secretary-general of the Global Wind Energy Council, said in the report.
World capacity will reach 493 gigawatts in 2016, from 238 gigawatts in 2011, the Global Council said. Installations will jump 8 percent a year on average to 59 gigawatts during 2016, from 41 gigawatts in 2011.
Even with the growth, the biggest wind-turbine makers such as Vestas Wind Systems A/S and Gamesa Corp. Tecnologica SA face shrinking margins because of excess world production and Chinese competition. Prices of turbines sold in the second half of 2011 fell 4 percent to $910,000 a megawatt, the lowest since at least 2008.
