China to become the global leader for wind power generation by 2016, says report

China will be the global leader for wind power generation by 2016, overtaking US which presently generates the largest amount of wind energy.

The Asian country presently has the maximum installed wind capacity in the world, according to research and consulting firm Global Data.

Slower wind speeds in the country and lack of sufficient power grid infrastructure have been considered as probable reasons for reduced wind power capabilities.

The country, however, has recorded 110GW of cumulative wind power installed capacity till 2014, which is considerably more than the US which has around 66MW at present.

in 2001, China had an installed capacity of 402MW, which grew at a steady Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 50.5%, says GlobalData.

While the country had 18GW of new installations, US had added only 4.9 GW of wind power installations in the previous year.

GlobalData analyst for Power Pranav Srivastava said: "Furthermore, in terms of annual installations, the Chinese wind industry has proven to be more stable than the US, as the latter’s annual installations rely heavily upon government incentives, which are often under speculation.

"In 2013, the US wind industry witnessed a 92% drop in annual installed capacity and around 30,000 job losses due to the expiration of the Production Tax Credit. Although this incentive, which was renewed early in December 2014, sought to benefit wind power generators, it did not have any worthwhile positive impact on the industry in practicality, as it gave investors very little time to meet its eligibility requirements. As such, the US wind sector may not be in as healthy a condition as President Obama recently claimed."