The world installed 117 gigawatts of new wind power capacity in 2023, up 50% from the previous year, making it the best year on record for new wind projects, according to a new report by the industry’s trade association.
The latest Global Wind Report, published Tuesday by the Global Wind Energy Council, explores the state of the global wind industry and the challenges it faces in its growth.
The increase in wind installations “shows that the world is moving in the right direction in combating climate change,” the report said.
But the authors warned that the wind industry must increase annual growth to at least 320 gigawatts by 2030 to meet COP28’s commitment to triple the world’s installed renewable energy generation capacity by 2030 and meet the Paris Agreement’s containment target. global warming will increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit).
GWEC CEO Ben Backwell said: “It’s great to see the wind sector’s growth accelerating and we’re proud to reach a new annual record, but more needs to be done to unlock growth.”
Still, the report shows that wind is “better understood and appreciated globally for the value it brings as a renewable energy source,” said George Aluru, CEO of the Kenya Electricity Sector Association, an industry body for private investors in electricity. .
“This increased renewable energy supply supports climate goals in line with achieving sustainable development,” he said.
With the increasing impacts of climate change, wind energy and other renewable energy sources are seen as key to reducing electricity production from fossil fuels and mitigating climate change. Renewable energy is the cheapest form of electricity in many parts of the world and among the cheapest in many others.
Global cumulative wind energy capacity has now reached 1,021 gigawatts.
Christian Andresen, research director at SINTEF Energy Research, a Norway-based independent institute for applied research in the energy sector, said the report showed the wind industry was “gaining momentum” by attracting investment and maturing, a snowball effect leading to future growth.
For the planet, he said, this showed it was possible to achieve climate goals.
“This is an important building block in the transition to a net-zero emissions society,” Andresen said.
China led all other countries in installing new wind power, both onshore and offshore, in 2023 as well as in 2022. China, which had 65% of new installations, was followed by the USA, Brazil and Germany, respectively. Together, these four countries accounted for 77% of new installations worldwide last year.
The report notes that growth in wind energy installations is largely concentrated in a few large countries and attributes this to strong market frameworks for scaling wind installations in these countries. At the end of last year, the top five markets remained China, the USA, Germany, India and Spain.
Still, other countries and regions with record growth in 2023 also stand out.
Africa and the Middle East installed nearly 1 gigawatt of wind power capacity in 2023; This means almost three times the amount of the previous year. The report predicts that new onshore wind additions to Africa and the Middle East will increase fivefold by 2028 compared to 2023, with projects to be built in South Africa, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
The report notes that some of the markets to watch include Kenya, where wind power provides about 17% of electricity. The country has Africa’s largest wind farm, the 310-megawatt Lake Turkana Wind Power Project, and the report notes new large-scale wind projects planned in the country, including a 1 gigawatt wind park from local power generator KenGen.
However, the report noted that building wind energy facilities is expensive and requires high upfront investments, while emerging and developing countries face higher capital costs for wind energy production and pay higher loan rates.
Wind energy also faces supply chain and grid challenges, and innovation in the electrical system is needed to integrate intermittent wind energy into the grid while maintaining reliability, said Erin Baker, professor of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at the University of Massachusetts. As an example, he said offshore wind has very specialized equipment and production and also requires expertise in finance and business models.
But as the report shows, the increasing growth of wind energy means countries are developing the supply chains needed to sustain this growth and will “almost certainly” lead to reduced costs and improvements in technology. He said it was built all over the world.
“Recent growth and the nation’s support for the wind industry are encouraging signs that the supply chain is being established,” Baker said.
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