The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) recently announced the Americas enjoyed a 12% increase in installed wind energy capacity in 2019 as compared to the previous year. For those that wonder, that means that North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean installed 11,892 MW in 2018 and upped that to 13,427 MW last year.

 
North American Windpower reports that the total installed wind capacity in those areas is now over 148 GW. However, while capacity increased by almost 18% in North America year over year, it actually fell in Central America, South America and the Caribbean by 5% in the same period.

By country, the U.S. installed nearly 10 GW of capacity. This was driven primarily by the Production Tax Credit phase out and is expected to continue driving installations in 2020 according to North American Windpower. Strong growth has also occurred in key markets such as Mexico, Argentina and Brazil.

The GWEC is predicting the Americas will add more than 220 GW of new capacity between 2020 to 2024.

Ben Backwell, CEO of GWEC, feels encouraged that the levels of yearly installations in the Americas are still on the upswing but he implores policymakers to do, "more to accelerate these volumes and take advantage of the full potential wind power has to offer," and he cautions that the U.S./China trade war hurts growth in the wind energy industry due to the tariffs on steel and aluminum.