The report facilitates market analysis and forecasting of future wind energy industry trends. It helps identifying growth segments and opportunities in the energy industry. The news and deals portfolio provided in the report helps an investor to gauge the global wind energy market and accordingly direct their investment.
Of the available renewable energy sources, wind is the most established commercial generating technology with highly effective and reliable equipment and machinery. It has observed tremendous growth, with the total installed capacity augmenting from 23,900 MW in 2001 to over 121,013 MW in 2008, reflecting an annual growth rate of 26% for the 2001-08 period.
Annual Wind Energy Installations to be Impacted by the Financial Crisis
The current financial crisis is severely affecting the growth of wind energy globally. The global wind energy industry is witnessing many cancellations of turbine orders, freezing up and sale of wind farms, and difficulties in securing financial aid for new projects. The worldwide annual wind energy installations will trickle down by more than 15% in the years 2009 and 2010, as against the growth rate of 35% in the new installed capacity of 2008. This will further result in a dip in the demand for wind turbines.
Increasing Mergers and Acquisitions to be the Outcome of Financial Crisis
Wind farms are capital-heavy projects with significant up-front investment that can be financed only by large utilities and investment groups. The critical short-term challenge faced by most wind power developers is financing, particularly for under development projects. The economic downturn, resulting in the failure of some of the world’s largest investment banks, has led to an increase in the cost of capital for wind energy projects. Against this backdrop, only a few large wind power companies will be in a position to pursue their project development plans. Shortage of financial resources with smaller players would give an opportunity to the big giants to takeover or form alliances with such companies, thereby increasing the level of consolidation in the wind energy industry.
Strong Growth Prospects of the Offshore Wind Energy Market
The offshore wind energy market is attracting investors in the wind segment. The global offshore cumulative wind energy installed capacity has increased from 86 MW in 2001 to 1,475 MW in 2008. Most of this capacity is predominantly concentrated in the European region. Currently, there are nearly 5 GW of new offshore wind energy projects in the development phases in Europe. The US has also planned to develop over 2,320 MW of offshore wind power projects, while China has 520 MW of offshore capacity under construction or in planning. Increasing focus on the offshore wind energy sector is principally because of the greater power generation potential at such locations. Offshore sites are also suitable for wind power generation because there is no space constraint. Additionally, offshore wind projects offer multi-fold advantages i.e. large wind turbines can be installed at the offshore sites because of the greater wind speed, thereby enabling it to generate more units of power.
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