See:
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2011/03/wind-power-china-picks-up-paceeu-and-us-fall-but-global-market-grows
<http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2011/03/wind-power-china-picks-up-paceeu-and-us-fall-but-global-market-grows?cmpid=WindNL-Thursday-March24-2011>
The biggest increase was in China, with 16.5 GW nameplate added. China
now leads the world with 42.3 GW. They are aiming for 200 GW in 2020.
Total world capacity stands at 194.4 GW. By the way, the people who
compile these numbers try to keep them accurate to subtracting out old
wind turbines that are taken out of service.
These numbers are all nameplate. For actual capacity, or to compare to
other energy sources, divide nameplate by 3. Some people say you should
divide by 4 but that seems a little unreasonable in view of the fact
that other sources cannot run at 100% of capacity all year long. They
all need to go offline for maintenance and other reasons. Such as being
struck by a tsunami and then blowing sky high.
- Jed
