Global trend in wind power with special focus on the top five wind power producing countries

Wind is one of the cleanest sources of renewable energy. The confidence on wind power can be realized from the recent growth of wind power at global level. Several countries have set specific target to meet substantial portion of their domestic energy demand from wind while many others have initiated large scale R&D. In this article, a comprehensive discussion on global trend in wind power is presented by highlighting potential, installation status and future prospect at global, regional and national context. A comparison on wind power status among the top five wind power producing countries viz. China, USA, Germany, Spain and India is also presented. The importance of use of modern tool and technique in wind power potential assessment is also discussed by highlighting wind power reassessment studies done for India. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.