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Global study hails growth for small wind sectorMay 1, 2009UK manufacturing industry casts aside economic gloom to become world's largest exporter A global study released by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) today, flagged up significant international growth in demand for small wind technology. BWEA's own figures released last week recognised the UK as the world's biggest exporter of turbines in the sub 50kW division, last year deploying 4.7MW in international markets. The study's author Ron Stimmel of AWEA said: "The UK currently exports more small wind systems than any other country in the world and has a great potential domestic market. In the US, the world's largest small-wind market, the federal government recently enacted a long-term financial incentive for small wind turbine consumers that could bring a 30-fold growth to the US industry in as little as five years. With the right policies, the UK market could see similar growth." UK manufacturers currently hold an 82% revenue share of the UK market and export 50% of their output to over 100 countries worldwide. Benefiting from a weak British pound, 2008 export revenues for UK companies doubled and in the same year the sector created 500 new UK based jobs. The AWEA Small Wind Turbine Global Market Study commented: "The cleantech economy sector in general has been relatively strong throughout the global recession and credit crisis, and small wind is no exception. Even amidst the downturn, economies of scale are beginning to take shape in the industry and growth projections are the strongest in the industry's 80-year history" . Alex Murley, BWEA Small System Manager, said: "In the context of the current economic climate, record falls in UK manufacturing output, and challenging times for the UK green agenda, this news represents a glowing success story for a vibrant world leading UK manufacturing industry. If the UK marketplace is supported now, this promising UK sector could supply fast expanding global markets for decades to come." Since 2005, over 10,000 small systems have been deployed in the UK, equating to over 20MW of installed electrical capacity. In total, this growing industry now provides 1,880 UK based jobs. Leonard McGrill, Chairman of Iskra Wind Turbines: "We hope that unlike big wind, the UK's early technical lead will result in sustainable long term success, and the Government should further expand support to this potentially very big industry." David Sharman, Director of Ampair, added: "It would be helpful if the UK followed through on current successes with a strong feed-in tariff for small wind and a predictable planning system, to consolidate UK leadership in small wind manufacturing." For more information:
(1) The British Wind Energy Association is the trade and professional body for the UK wind and marine renewables industries. Formed in 1978, and with 468 corporate members, BWEA is the leading renewable energy trade association in the UK. Wind has been the world's fastest growing renewable energy source for the last seven years, and this trend is expected to continue with falling costs of wind energy and the urgent international need to tackle CO2 emissions. (2) AWEA Small Wind Turbine Market Global Study: http://www.awea.org/smallwind/pdf/09_AWEA_Small_Wind_Global_Market_Study.pdf (3) The key findings of the global study were:
(4) BWEA Small Wind System UK market report 2009 was launched at last week's International Small Wind Conference. The key headline findings were:
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