While new installation of wind turbines worldwide rose about 31 percent overall to 20,076 megawatt (MW), new installations in Germany slumped 25 percent to 1,667 MW last year, the association said in a statement.
Germany, which is still the world's largest wind market overall, fell behind and now ranks on 5th position, making room at the top for the United States, followed by Spain, China and India, BWE said.
Industry subsidies as defined in the current German renewable energy law were insufficient to meet the cost situation, said Hermann Albers, president of the BWE.
Rising prices for raw materials such as steel, copper as well as higher energy costs offset savings gained through rising efficiency, he added.
The BWE cautioned that expansion of Germany's wind industry could stall completely by 2010 if the government would not adapt a more favourable stand in the new renewable energy law, which is currently under revision.
The growing international market however helped German wind turbine makers last year, among them for example Nordex (NDXGk.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) or REpower (RPWGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research).
Global sales by German wind turbine makers rose 18 percent to 7.6 billion euros ($12.04 billion) in 2007, of which exports accounted for 78 percent, the BWE said.
For 2008, the BWE expects global new installations to rise to 25,000 MW and sees growing exports of German wind turbines. (Reporting by Eva Kuehnen; Editing by David Cowell)
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