Power capacity generated by the wind surged by 26 percent last year to reach 39,294 megawatts, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) and European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) said in March in their annual report.

Germany installed 2,645 MW, bringing its total to 14,609 MW, or 40 percent of the global total.

Second was the United States, which added 1,687 MW, for a total of 6,374 MW, followed by Spain, up 1,377 MW to 6,202 MW, and Denmark, whose increase of 1,377 MW brought its wind-generated tally to 3,110 MW.

India lies in fifth position, having installed 408 MW of capacity last year to reach 2,110 MW.

Windpower has recorded annual growth of more than 35 percent over the past five years, but almost all of the installed capacity is in Europe and the United States, which together account for 88 percent of the worldwide total.

The Netherlands, Italy, Japan and Britain are the other big players, each nearing the 1,000-MW mark.

Global investment in wind power is put at eight billion euros (10 billion dollars) at the end of 2003, compared with 6.8 billion euros (8.5 billion) a year earlier.

Despite the big increase, windpower for the moment meets just a tiny percentage of energy needs.

Worldwide production is enough for just 47 million people, as measured by the energy use of a typical European household.

TERRA.WIRE