According to WWEA’s  (World Wind Energy Association) recently published half-year report for 2011, the five leading countries stand for the lion share of the world capacity of wind turbines: China, USA, Germany, Spain and India, together representing a total share of 74 % of the global wind capacity.

Again in 2011, China continues to dominate the world wind market, adding 8 GW in only 6 months, the highest number ever within the first half year. Within those 6 months, China accounted for 43 % of the world market for new wind turbines, compared with 50 % in the full year of 2010. By June 2011, China had an overall installed capacity of around 52 GW.

Most of the European markets showed stronger growth in 2011 than in the previous year: The top markets in Europe continue to be Germany with a new capacity of 766 MW and reaching a total of 27’981 MW, Spain (484 MW, 21’150 MW in total), Italy (460 MW, 6’200 MW total), France (400 MW, 6’060 MW total), the United Kingdom (504 MW, 5’707 MW) and Portugal (260 MW, 3’960 MW). Only France and Denmark showed a decrease in their new installed capacity compared to the first half of 2010 and Denmark even dropped out of the list of the top 10 markets, while Portugal became the new number 10.

The US market added 2’252 MW between January and June 2011, about 90 % more than in the same, but very weak period of 2010. However, it is questionable whether the US market can regain the strength it had in 2009 when a total capacity of almost 10 GW was installed within one year.

Relatively strong growth can be observed in Canada which installed 603 MW during the first half of 2011, with Ontario as the strongest province due to the ground-breaking Green Energy Act.