After three poor years, the German market has grown again. In 2006 the market grew by 23.5% compared to the former year and now totals almost 21 GW. Spain is second in the European ranking with 1,587 MW, totalling almost 12 GW installed so far.
France and the UK (including Barrow's offshore park) were third and fourth respectively last year. Portugal was surprisingly fifth, with almost 700 MW installed last year. Italy's figures were not as good, though. The market shrank in 2006 and the country's new capacity was surpassed by Portugal's.
The overall figures are, however, very positive as the market has been able to grow despite the supply shortages that the industry is experiencing. The industry seems buyont still due to overdemand. The most positive factor is, however, that Germany and Spain are no longer the only big markets, which means that manufacturers and installers can diversify their sources of revenue. Now France, the UK or Portugal are places were wind power has a great growth potential. So much that the market forecast for the EU has been revised by EurObserv'ER: now the forecast is 89 GW, 9 GW above the European Wind Energy Association's forecast.
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