The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) today issued the following statement by AWEA CEO Denise Bode on the new global wind power installations numbers released by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC):
“Global wind power numbers for 2009 are in: China passed the U.S. in new installations and in manufacturing of wind turbines. The U.S. still remains the largest market in cumulative capacity for the second year in a row but here again China is hard on our heels, If this isn’t the ‘case-closed’ evidence that America must have stable renewable energy policy and hard targets in order to create jobs and revitalize our economy, I don’t know what is. China gets it, 37 other nations get it, and we still don’t. It is time to act now on a national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) so that America can immediately create manufacturing jobs and be the world wind power leader. The economy can’t wait, job creation can’t wait, and America can’t wait.”