China installed almost half of new wind capacity globally last year.

It constructed 30GW out of 63GW of new capacity worldwide, figures from the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) revealed.

It added the Asian country accounts for 145.1GW of total wind capacity, overtaking the EU which has 141.6GW.

China’s drive for clean energy is supported by continuous policy improvement, motivated by the need to reduce dependence on coal and concerns over climate change, the GWEC said.

After China, the US and Germany are among the countries which installed a large amount of new wind capacity last year with 8.6GW and 6GW respectively.

Steve Sawyer, Secretary General of GWEC said: “Wind power is leading the charge in the transition away from fossil fuels. 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.

“2015 was a big year for the big markets – China, the US, Germany and Brazil all of which set new records but there is a lot of activity in new markets around the world and I think in 2016 we’ll see a broader distribution.”