From an emerging fuel source twenty years ago, three factors have turned wind energy into a mature and booming global business:

• There is growing global demand for emissions-free wind power, which can be installed quickly, virtually everywhere in the world.
• Generation costs have fallen dramatically over the last 15 years; moving closer to the cost of conventional energy sources.
• Modern wind turbines have improved dramatically in their power rating, efficiency and reliability.

More importantly, wind energy is the only power generation technology that can deliver the necessary cuts in CO2 in the critical period up to 2020, when greenhouse gases must peak and begin to decline, to avoid dangerous climate change. The 120.8 GW of global wind capacity will produce 260 TWh and save 158 million tons of CO2 every year.

Over the past decade, global wind power capacity has continued to grow at an average cumulative rate of over 30%. The United States passed Germany to become the number one market in wind power, and China's total capacity doubled for the fourth year in a row.

Three key regions are continuing to drive global wind development: North America, Europe and Asia, with the lion's share of 2011's new installations evenly distributed between them.

Wind energy has grown into an important player in the world's energy markets, with the 2011 market for turbine installations worth about €66.8 billion. This market is likely to be worth €111.7 billion by 2015.

The industry today employs over 400,000 people, and that number is expected to be in the millions in the near future.

Source : BTM Consult New Wind Report: World Market Update 2010