Installed wind power capacity continued to grow around the world last year despite the ongoing financial uncertainty with Europe remaining the number one regional leader, according to a new report.

Europe’s installed wind capacity increased by 10,281 MW to 96,616 MW by the end of 2011, the Global Wind Energy Council’s (GWEC) annual statistics show. In the EU, the new total was 93,957 MW.

Asia was the second place regional leader with 21,298 additional MW of installed wind capacity, bringing its cumulative total to 82,398 MW. North America was in third place with an additional 8,077 MW last year increasing its total capacity to 52,184 MW.

In Mozambique, nine people in ten have no access to electricity. Yet the village of Mipandi now has electric light for the first time thanks a wind-based micro-grid blue-print set up by EWEA’s chosen charity, Renewable World with local partners, The Clean Energy Initiative (TCEI).

“In Mozambique, the expansion of clean and sustainable energy – such as micro wind power – offer clear advantages in addressing climate change and energy poverty”, says Jason Morenikeji from TCEI. He adds that Mozambique has 2,800km of coast-line, many inland lakes and highland which contribute to its localised wind patterns.

Wind power is expected to dominate Africa’s renewable energy sector over the next decade as the continent faces a massive struggle of providing electricity to remote communities, according to a new report by a global consultancy.

A Frost & Sullivan press release issued on Wednesday noted that the total renewable power investment in Africa, which was €2.5 billion by 2010, is expected to grow to €40 billion by the end of this decade.

“The key growth sectors will be wind power, solar power, geothermal power and foreign direct investment (FDI) into energy and power infrastructure,” the release quoted Ross Bruton, Frost & Sullivan’s energy and power systems industry analyst, as saying.

The release noted that Africa is the most poorly electrified continent in the world even though it has enough energy resources to more than adequately meet its existing and growing energy needs.

This month’s online Comment Visions forum centres exclusively on wind power, asking: to what extent should we encourage the growth of wind energy in our future energy mix? And the response is positive: from around the world, respondents are singing the benefits of wind power.

Kenneth Reed, founder of Natural Alternative Fuels inc, says that the wind, when harnessed is, “a natural tool that provides man with a clean solution to the problem of declining natural resources, competition (war) over existing resources, addiction to foreign oil, pollution of air and water, cancer and asthma causing emissions and global warming.”

Reed’s comments are echoed by David Hurwitt, Vice President of Optiwind, who says that wind is an, “endless resource that arrives for free and leaves no waste in its wake.”

EWEA’s COO Bruce Douglas points out that wind power is already part of the answer to the multiple climate, energy and employment crises in Europe. Wind is, “already expanding significantly and this growth must be encouraged until we reach 100% renewables in Europe. By seizing this opportunity now Europe will set an example for the rest of the world,” he says.

Backing Douglas, Michail Georgiev, manager at Energoconsult ltd, notes that, “wind is the only renewable source that has the technical and economical potential to reach between 40 and 50% from total energy production in the medium term.”

The President of the African Wind Energy Association, Hermann Oelsner, outlines wind power’s potential development advantages, “wind energy is particularly advantageous for the African continent because the philosophy behind the technology is in cohesion with the overall social and economic development strategies of most African nations.”