Another year of sluggish growth, squeezed margins and fierce price competition from natural gas lies in wait for the wind-power industry OEMs in 2018. After the bumper year of 2015, when more than 60GW of new wind capacity was installed worldwide (though not all connected), the new-build rate slowed to around 55GW in 2016, and looks set to be around 51-52GW for 2017. Most of that downturn can be attributed to China's recent focus on quality over quantity, but few of the rest of the world's markets are doing much to pick up the slack. India's slump looks temporary (p8),but Brazil remains in the economic doldrums, and South Africa is stuck in coal-backed politics. Canada and Australia could, and should, be doing much more. The US wind scene currently looks healthy, despite the federal administration's environmental vandalism, but the clock is ticking on the production tax credit (p8). Europe has its own political and economic problems that impact on wind development, not least generation over-capacity from ageing coal-fired plant, pushing down wholesale prices.
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