With the addition of an astonishing 30,500 megawatts of new installations in China, the global wind power industry counts a total of 63,013 megawatts in 2015, representing an annual market growth of 22 percent, according to the latest statistics from the Global Wind Energy Council.

By the end of 2015, total global capacity reached 432,419 megawatts, representing cumulative growth of 17 percent. As a result of its extraordinary growth, China has edged past the European Union in terms of total installed capacity—145.1 gigawatts to the E.U.’s 141.6.

"Wind power is leading the charge in the transition away from fossil fuels,” said Steve Sawyer, secretary general of GWEC. “Wind is blowing away the competition on price, performance and reliability, and we’re seeing new markets open up across Africa, Asia and Latin America, which will become the market leaders of the next decade. Wind power led new capacity additions in both Europe and the United States, and new turbine configurations have dramatically increased the areas where wind power is the competitive option."

"2015 was a big year for the big markets—China, the U.S., Germany and Brazil, all of which set new records,” continued Sawyer. “But there is a lot of activity in new markets around the world and I think in 2016 we’ll see a broader distribution."

The Global Wind Energy Council spoke highly of the development of China's wind power energy in recent years, saying that the Chinese government’s drive for clean energy, supported by continuous policy improvement, has become a driving force behind global wind power growth.