Just a week after the American Wind Energy Association released its initial installation numbers for North America, with the startling finding that more than 9 and half Gigawatts of new wind capacity was added in 2009, Europe has actually done even better. The European Wind Energy Association announced that the continent had more than 10 Gigawatts of installations last year. This vindicates IDC Energy Insights' bullish position on wind last year (but even we were too timid--predicting 7 GW in North America).

Even more startling than the robust growth in 2009--39% in Europe and 40% in the U.S.--was the fact that one of our predictions for 2010 was met, albeit a year early. In Europe, wind installations actually came in ahead of new natural gas capacity installations. We expected that to happen this year, but the Rubicon has already been crossed. Even more amazing is the fact that natural gas prices remain near historic lows and the generation sector certainly has plenty of temptation to add more gas plants (Jim Rogers, the CEO of Duke Energy once referred to them as "the crack cocaine of the utilities industry").

Does that mean that 2009 was the magical year that ushered in the age of renewable energy? It's possible, but keep in mind that the subsidies and incentives that are forcing this growth won't always be with us. For the next two years, however, we will continue to enjoy the fruits of the economic stimulus in the U.S., a similar program in China and continued European governmental support for the renewable energy industry. This train, in other words, isn't stopping anytime soon.