BTMsaid GE had displaced Denmark’s Vestas as global leader in preliminary figuresreleased in February.

BTMsaid global wind capacity grew by 44.95GW in 2012, 1.1GW of it offshore,reaching a total of 285.7GW.

Butthe analyst predicts a reduction in market size for the five years to 2017,expecting 241.62GW to be added during that period.

Thatis 10% below the forecast it made in 2011, mainly due to expected slowdown inturbine sales in 2013 and 2015.

BTM says: “The US market will likely faceadditional political uncertainty when the PTC (production tax credit) expiresafter 2013.