Global wind energy companies expect future growth in the industry to be mainly driven by the United States, China and Spain, said a German research study published on Monday.

"Those polled in the study believed that the United States, China and Spain should retain their high growth potential in future but that countries such as Greece and South Korea are also gaining in importance," said the study which had been carried out by wind energy institute DEWI.

Highlights of the study were published by organizers of the Husum WindEnergy 2008 trade fair which takes place September 9-13.

Global annual new installations are expected to grow fivefold in the next 10 years to reach 107,000 megawatt (MW) in the year 2017, according to the study.

In 2007, all global installations rose by 27 percent to 94,593 MW, with 78 percent of new installations made in the United States, China, Spain, Germany and India, the study said.

Germany was replaced by the United States as the world's No.1 market for newly installed wind turbines which its wind energy federation BWE said last month was because of falling subsidies.

In terms of new capacity additions, it ranked behind the US, Spain, China and India last year, BWE said.

But due to its head start and earlier growth, Germany is still the world's largest wind power market overall.

Its producers and suppliers account for more than a third of the industry's global turnover.

The study also said that by end-2017, total global installed wind energy capacity may reach about 718,000 MW compared with the 94,593 MW recorded at the end of last year.

As the focus of production shifts geographically, more than half of the installed wind turbine capacity in 2012 will already be located outside of Europe compared with a rate of 39 percent outside Europe last year, it said.

(China Daily via Agencies May 27, 2008)