JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #90 - June/July 2014 - 23

SWT

The world market for Small
Wind Turbines continues to grow
As of the end of 2012, a cumulative total of at least 806,000
small wind turbines were installed all over the world. This is an
increase of 10% compared with the previous year, when 730,000
units were registered.

M

ost of the growth was recorded in
only three countries: China, USA
and the UK. This situation is a clear
indication that the world market for small
wind turbines is still in its infancy stage.
In most countries, you can find at least a
handful of small wind turbines, but the vast
majority of these countries is far from a
market size that would enable companies to
reach mass production. More and bettertargeted policies are imperative for making
small wind turbines a success all over the
world.

The world market
continues growing

An 18% increase in
global small wind capacity
The small wind capacity installed worldwide has reached more than 678 MW as
of the end of 2012. This is a growth of 18%
compared with 2011, when 576 MW were
registered. In 2011, the growth rate was
still at 21%. China accounts for 39% of the
global capacity, the USA for 31% and the
UK for 9.4%.
Together, these three leading markets
installed around 89 MW of new capacity in
2012 (80% of the world market), a capacity
increase of 16% slightly below the global
growth rate.
The US small wind market grew by 18.4
MW in 2012, representing around 3,700
installations and $101 million in investment.
On a unit basis, small wind turbines comprised 35% of all 2012 wind installations in
the USA (see 2012 Market Report on Wind
Technologies in Distributed Applications,
U.S. Department of Energy). In the UK, the
small wind market witnessed further growth
in 2012, mainly driven by the Feed-in tariff
scheme: 37 MW were installed during 2012
with the biggest growth rate observed in the
15-100 kW size range.
Globally, an increase in the average size of

small wind turbines can be observed: the
average installed size was 0.66 kW in 2010,
0.77 kW in 2011, and 0.84 kW in 2012.
Country wise, the average size is quite
diverse. While the average Chinese turbine
has a capacity of 0.5 kW, small wind turbines
have an average capacity of 1.4 kW in the US
and even 3.7 kW in the UK.

Small wind turbine manufacturing
Five countries (Canada, China, Germany,
the UK and the USA) account for over 50%
of small wind turbine manufacturers. By the
end of 2011, over 330 small wind turbine
manufacturers offering complete one-piece
commercialised generation systems were
identified in the world, with an estimate of
over 300 additional firms supplying parts,
technology, consulting and sales services.

Technology and major
applications
Actually, what is seen today as "Big Wind"
started in the size which is now defined as
small wind. Until the 1970s and 1980s, most
wind turbines had a capacity of less than 100
kW. In rural, isolated areas, e.g. in China or
the USA, such small wind turbines where
very common for residential and farming
needs, including water-pumping stations,
and they are still a common technology in
many developing countries. Today, common
applications of small wind turbines include:
* Residential
* Commercial and industrial
* Fishery and recreational boats
* Hybrid systems

No90 June - July 2014 /

Feature Wind energy

China is still the by far the largest market in
terms of small wind turbines ever installed,
and the cumulative number of installed units
grew by 70,000 to a total of 570,000 by the
end of 2012. This represents 70% of the
world market in terms of both total and new
installed units. According to estimations,
around half of the turbines continue to
produce electricity in China given that this
market started already in the early 1980s.
The second largest market can be found in
the USA with a total of 155,000 units installed, clearly behind China but well ahead
of a number of medium-sized markets. The
UK, Canada, Germany, Japan and Argentina
are all medium-sized markets with a total
number of small wind turbines between
7,000 and 23,500 units.

In terms of new installations, China is again
leading by far with 70,000 units, followed by
the USA and the British market, which both
had a similar size with respectively 3,700
and 3,646 units installed in 2012. However,
both markets are only 5% of the size of the
Chinese market.

jec composites magazine 23
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #90 - June/July 2014

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