Market fundamentals are strong in North America, and Europe's steady if unspectacular march towards its 2020 targets has been given a big boost by the year's most exciting new development:  the dramatic price reductions for offshore wind. Europe will continue to lead the offshore market, but the low prices have attracted the attention of policymakers worldwide, particularly in North America and Asia.

"Offshore wind has had a major price breakthrough in the past year, and looks set to live up to the enormous potential that many have believed in for years. We see the technology continuing to improve and spread beyond its home base in Europe in the next 5-10 years", continued Sawyer.

Despite Brazil's political and economic woes, other countries in the region have stepped up to fill the gap, especially Uruguay, Chile and the region's most exciting new market in Argentina. Africa will have a big year in 2017, led by Kenya, South Africa and Morocco, and the future of wind on the continent looks bright. After a lull, the Australian market looks to come roaring back with a strong pipeline of projects to be built out over the next few years.

"Overall, we have a lot of confidence in the wind power market going forward, as the technology continues to improve, prices continue to go down and the call for clean, renewable power to reduce emissions, clean our air and create new jobs and new industries only gets stronger with each passing year", concluded Sawyer.

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