China is already the world’s leading producer of wind-generated power, and it continues to rapidly expand its wind power infrastructure. In 2015, China added more wind power than all of the countries in the European Union combined. The country now produces over 33% of the world’s total production of solar power. China’s yearly production is around 150,000 megawatts and growing.
Germany has long been known as one of the leaders in Europe for wind power. It has well over 20,000 wind turbines within its borders. The production of wind power in Germany has been growing at a rate of 30% per year. It now puts out around 50,000 megawatts of wind power annually. This is over 10% of the world’s total wind power production.
Spain is another European leader in wind power. It produces well over 20,000 megawatts of wind power per year. This represents over 5% of the world’s total wind power production. Spain is ranked as the 5th-largest producer of wind power in the world. However, the amount of wind turbines in the country seems to have leveled off. Spain’s production of wind power has only increased slightly in the last several years.
Canada is a country with the potential to produce far more green power than it does. It currently produces over 11,000 megawatts. This represents roughly 3% of the world’s total wind power production. However, only 5% of Canada’s total power production comes from wind. The Canadian government is strongly encouraging the development of new wind power projects, so Canada’s wind power production will likely increase sharply in the near future.
France produces just over 10,000 megawatts per year of electricity from wind. This makes it the 8th-largest producer of wind power in the world. The country is rapidly increasing its wind power production by over 10% per year, so it will likely climb up the rankings quickly. Currently, however, it produces less than 3% of the world’s wind power.
The United Kingdom, despite its relatively small size, is ranked 6th in the world for wind power production. It produces roughly 14,000 megawatts of wind power per year, which is over 3% of the world’s production. Wind power is the cheapest type of electricity to produce in the country, which explains why it is considered to be one of the windmill countries.
India has long been one of the world’s leading wind power producers. The country’s territory is very large and windy, which helps it produce over 25,000 megawatts of wind power per year. This is roughly 6% of the global total.
China is currently the country that produces the most wind power, and it is continually upgrading its infrastructure to support more of this energy production type.