The U.S. also narrowly regained the lead for annual wind power capacity, overtaking China.
Looking ahead, the industry will need ot accelerate construction activity to meet annual capacity outlook.
The DOE believes that capacity in 2014 “is expected to be strong as developers commission projects that began construction in 2013.”
“The one-year extension of the federal PTC and its new start construction language are expected to create a 2 to 3 year window for additional utility-scale wind project development,” the DOE said. “The USDA’s fiscal year 2014 budget proposes increased levels of mandatory funding for loan guarantees and grants over 2012 levels for the REAP (USDA 2012), which will continue to support the development of distributed wind projects in the rural and farm markets.”
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For more information on the wind industry, visit our wind category.
Max Chen contributed to this article.