The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) has released its report Global Wind Report Annual Market Update 2012, examining global installed wind power capacity. The report found that by the end of 2012, global capacity was 282.5 GW. The leaders in new capacity additions were the U.S. with 13.12 GW, China with 12.96 GW, and the European Union with 11.9 GW. It is the first year since 2009 that the U.S. surpassed China in capacity additions.
The report cited climate change mitigation, energy security, local economic development, and local pollution issues, and price stability as to why wind power has excelled. However, the report warned that policy uncertainty could harm the wind industry, the study pointed to the European Union carbon price and U.S. production tax credit as two such examples.
http://www.gwec.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Annual_report_2012_LowRes.pdf
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