The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) has released its flagship publication Global Wind Report: Annual Market Update. More than 54 GW of clean renewable wind power was installed across the global market in 2016, which now comprises more than 90 countries, including 9 with more than 10,000 MW installed, and 29 which have now passed the 1,000 MW mark. Cumulative capacity grew by 12.6% to reach a total of 486.8 GW.

"Wind power is now successfully competing with heavily subsidized incumbents across the globe, building new industries, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs and leading the way towards a clean energy future" said GWEC Secretary General Steve Sawyer.

"We are well into a period of disruptive change, moving away from power systems centered on a few large, polluting plants towards markets increasingly dominated by a range of widely distributed renewable energy sources. We need to get to a zero emissions power system well before 2050 if we are to meet our climate change and development goals."

Wind power penetration levels continue to increase, led by Denmark pushing 40%, followed by Uruguay, Portugal and Ireland with well over 20%, Spain and Cyprus around 20%, Germany at 16%;  and the big markets of China, the US and Canada get 4, 5.5, and 6% of their power from wind, respectively.

GWEC's rolling five year forecast sees almost 60 GW of new wind installations in 2017, rising to an annual market of about 75 GW by 2021, to bring cumulative installed capacity of over 800 GW by the end of 2021.

Growth will be led by Asia: China will continue to lead all markets, but India set a new record for installations this past year and has a real shot to meet the government's very ambitious targets for the sector; and there are a number of exciting new markets in the region with great potential.

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