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ePaper created 2014-06-03, 15:03:20 | version 1.30.01
58 02 MARKET AND INDUSTRY TRENDS in other sectors. The number of large corporate purchasers of wind power and turbines continued to increase during 2013.54 In addition, interest in community-owned wind power projects is growing in Australia, Canada, Japan, the United States, parts of Europe, and elsewhere.55 Community and co-operative power has long represented the mainstream ownership model in Denmark and Germany.56 Today, shared ownership is expanding through a variety of means, including innovative financing mechanisms such as crowd funding.57 The use of individual small-scalei turbines is increasing, with applications including defence, rural electrification, water pumping, battery charging, telecommunications, and other remote uses.58 Off-grid and mini-grid applications prevail in developing countries.59 Worldwide, at least 806,000 small-scale turbines were operating at the end of 2012, exceeding 678 MW (up 18% over 2011).60 While most countries have some small- scale turbines in use, capacity is predominantly in China and the United States, with an estimated 274 MW and 216 MW, respectively, by the end of 2012.61 They are followed by the United Kingdom, which added a record 38 MW in 2012, driven by a micro-generator FIT, to exceed 100 MW total.62 Other leaders include Germany, Ukraine, Canada, Italy, Poland, and Spain.63 Repowering of existing wind capacity has also expanded in recent years. The replacement of old turbines with fewer, larger, taller, and more efficient and reliable machines is driven by technology improvements and the desire to increase output while improving grid compliance and reducing noise and bird mortality.64 (See Sidebar 5.) Repowering began in Denmark and Germany, due to a combination of incentives and a large number of ageing turbines, and has spread to several other countries.65 During 2013, turbines were repowered in Denmark, Finland, and Japan, and in Germany, which replaced 373 turbines with combined capacity of 236 MW with 256 turbines totalling 726 MW.66 There is also a thriving international market in used turbines in several developing and emerging economies.67 Windpowerisplayingamajorroleinpowersupplyinanincreasing number of countries. In the EU, capacity operating at year’s end was enough to cover nearly 8% of electricity consumption in a normal wind year (up from 7% in 2012), and several EU countries met higher shares of their demand with wind.68 Wind was the top power source in Spain (20.9%, up from 16.3%) during 2013, and met 33.2% of electricity demand in Denmark (up from 30%).69 Four German states had enough wind capacity at year’s end to meet over 50% of their electricity needs.70 In the United States, wind power represented 4.1% of total electricity generation (up from 3.5% in 2012) and met more than 12% of demand in nine states (up from 10% in nine states in 2012), with Iowa at over 27% (up from 25%) and South Dakota at 26% (up from 24%).71 Wind power accounted for 2.6% of China’s electricity generation.72 Globally, wind power capacity by the end of 2013 was enough to meet an estimated 2.9% of total electricity consumption.73 ■■ WIND POWER INDUSTRY Over the past few years, capital costs of wind power have declined, primarily through competition, while technological advances—including taller towers, longer blades, and smaller generators in low wind speed areas—have increased capacity factors.74 These developments have lowered the costs of wind- generated electricity, improving its cost competitiveness relative to fossil fuels. Onshore wind-generated power is now cost competitive, or nearly so, on a per kWh basis with new coal- or gas-fired plants, even without compensatory support schemes, in several markets (including Australia, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, Turkey, much of the EU, and some locations in India and the United States).75 By one estimate, global levelised costs per MWh of onshore wind fell about 15% between 2009 and early 2014; offshore wind costs rose, however, due to increasing depths and distance from shore.76 Despite these largely positive trends, during 2013 the industry continued to be challenged by downward pressure on prices, increasedcompetitionamongturbinemanufacturers,competition with low-cost gas in some markets, reductions in policy support driven by economic austerity, and declines in key markets.77 In Europe, market contraction led to industry consolidation, with manufacturers Bard and Fuhrländer (both Germany) filing for insolvency in late 2013, and Vestas (Denmark) cutting its staff by 30%.78 European turbine makers also experienced a decline in market share within China, where domestic suppliers constituted over 93% of the market in 2013, up from 28% just six years earlier.79 The United States experienced factory closures and layoffs due to a shortage of new turbine orders; by year’s end, however, U.S. production capacity had ramped up dramatically, with wind-related manufacturing in 44 of 50 states.80 In India, Suzlon, which has struggled for years with massive debt, ceded its top position for the first time in a decade.81 Grid-related challenges are increasing and range from lack of transmission infrastructure, to delays in grid connection, to rerouting of electricity through neighbouring countries, to curtailmentwhereregulationsandcurrentmanagementsystems make it difficult to integrate large amounts of wind and other i - Small-scale wind systems are generally considered to include turbines that produce enough power for a single home, farm, or small business (keeping in mind that consumption levels vary considerably across countries). The International Electrotechnical Commission sets a limit at 50 kW, and the World Wind Energy Association (WWEA) and the American Wind Energy Association currently define “small-scale” as less than 100 kW, which is the range also used in the GSR; however, size varies according to needs and/or laws of a country or state/province, and there is no globally recognised definition or size limit. For more information see, for example, Stefan Gsänger and Jean Pitteloud, Small Wind World Report 2014 (Bonn: WWEA and New Energy Husum, March 2014), Executive Summary, http://small-wind.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/2014_SWWR_summary_web.pdf.