US small wind up 78%

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The US

market for small wind grew 78% in 2008 with an additional 17.3 MW of

installed capacity. This represents 10,500 units and US$77m in sales.

According to the American Wind Energy Association’s (AWEA) Small Wind Turbine Global Market Study,

the growth is largely due to increased private equity investment that

allowed manufacturing volumes to increase, particularly for the

commercial segment of the small wind turbine market (systems 21-100kW).

The

largest segment of the market, residential (1-10kW) wind turbines, was

driven by investment and manufacturing economies of scale, but also by

rising residential electricity prices and a heightened public awareness

of the technology.

AWEA projects a 30-fold growth within five

years, despite a global recession, for a cumulative US installed

capacity of 1700 MW by the end of 2013. Much of this estimated growth

would be spurred by the 8-year 30% federal Investment Tax Credit passed

by Congress in October 2008.

The USA continues to command roughly half the global small wind energy market share.

UK the world’s biggest exporter for <50kW

The British Wind Energy Association (BWEA)

says the UK is the world’s biggest exporter of wind turbines in the sub

50kW division, deploying 4.7 MW in international markets in 2008.

The

study’s author Ron Stimmel of AWEA says: “The UK currently exports more

small wind systems than any other country in the world and has a great

potential domestic market. In the USA, the world’s largest small wind

market, the federal government recently enacted a long-term financial

incentive for small wind turbine consumers that could bring a 30-fold

growth to the US industry in as little as five years. With the right

policies, the UK market could see similar growth.”

UK

manufacturers currently hold an 82% revenue share of the UK market and

export 50% of their output to over 100 countries worldwide.

Since 2005, over 10,000 small systems have been deployed in the UK, equating to over 20 MW of installed electrical capacity.