The wind turbines market of North America

The year 2005 has seen major activity in non-European markets, mainly in North America, where nearly a quarter of new capacity was installed. The total capacity increased by 37 % in 2005, gaining momentum in both the US and Canada. The wind energy industry in the US broke earlier annual records of installed capacity with installing nearly 2,500 MW, which makes it the country with the most new wind power . The US growth is largely due to the current three-year window of stability in the federal incentive for wind energy, the wind turbine production tax credit (PCT). For the first time in the credit's history, the US Congress extended the wind energy production credit before it expired. As a result, the wind industry is looking forward to several record-breaking years in a row, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). Previous years had seen a constant up and down of the market, depending on whether the PTC had been renewed in time to create investor confi dence. Thanks to a mixture of federal incentives and initiatives by individual provinces to increase the contribution from wind or renewable energy, the Canadian wind capacity increased by a staggering 54 % and now stands at 683 MW. According to the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWea), wind energy now produces enough electricity in Canada to power more than 200,000 homes