The world installed 117 gigawatts of new wind power capacity in 2023, a 50 percent increase from the previous year, making it the best year on record for new wind projects, according to a new report from the industry trade association. .
The latest World Wind Report, released on Tuesday by the World Wind Energy Council, explores the state of the global wind industry and the challenges it faces in its expansion.
The increase in wind installations “shows that the world is moving in the right direction in the fight against climate change,” according to the report.
But the authors warned that the wind industry must increase its annual growth to at least 320 gigawatts by 2030 to meet the COP28 commitment to triple the world’s installed renewable energy generation capacity by 2030, as well as to meet the ambition of the Paris agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit).
“It is fantastic to see growth in the wind industry recovering and we are proud to reach a new annual record,” said GWEC chief executive Ben Backwell, “however, much more needs to be done to unlock growth.”
Still, the report shows that wind power is becoming “better understood and appreciated around the world for the value it brings as a renewable energy source,” said George Aluru, executive director of the Kenya Power Sector Association, a industry body for private investors in electricity. .
“This increase in renewable energy supply supports climate objectives in line with ensuring sustainable development,” he said.
With the increasing impacts of climate change, wind power and other renewable energy sources are considered key to reducing electricity generation from fossil fuels and mitigating climate change. Renewables are the cheapest form of electricity in many parts of the world and one of the cheapest in most others.
The cumulative global wind energy capacity now stands at 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 shows the wind industry is “accelerating the pace” by attracting investment and gaining maturity, and That can lead to a snowball effect that will lead to future growth.
For the planet, he said, it indicates that it is possible to move forward to achieve climate goals.
“This is an important element in the transition to a net-zero emissions society,” Andresen said.
As was the case in 2022, China led all other countries in new onshore and offshore wind energy installations in 2023. It had 65 percent of new installations, and was followed by the United States, Brazil and Germany, respectively. Together, these four countries accounted for 77 percent of new installations globally last year.
The report notes that the growth of wind energy installations is highly concentrated in a few large countries and links this to strong market frameworks for scaling wind installations in those countries. The top five markets at the end of last year remained China, the United States, Germany, India and Spain.
Still, some other countries and regions are moving forward and have witnessed record levels of growth in 2023.
Africa and the Middle East installed almost a gigawatt of wind energy capacity in 2023, almost triple the previous year. With upcoming projects in South Africa, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the report predicts that new onshore wind energy additions for Africa and the Middle East will increase five-fold by 2028 compared to 2023.
Some of the markets to watch include Kenya, where wind energy provides about 17 percent of electricity, according to the report. The country has Africa’s largest wind farm, the 310-megawatt Lake Turkana Wind Energy Project, and the report notes new large-scale wind projects planned in the country, including a one-gigawatt wind farm from local power generator KenGen.
But building wind energy facilities is expensive and involves large upfront investments, and emerging and developing countries face higher capital costs and pay higher borrowing rates to develop their wind energy.
Wind power also faces supply chain and grid challenges, and power system innovation is needed to integrate intermittent wind power into the grid while maintaining reliability, said Erin Baker, professor of industrial engineering and operations research at the University of Massachusetts. Offshore wind, she said as an example, has some very specialized equipment and manufacturing, and also requires expertise in finance and business models.
But the accelerated growth of wind energy, as shown in the report, means that countries are developing the supply chains necessary to sustain this growth, and will “almost certainly” lead to cost reductions and improvements in technology as that more and more is being built around the world, he stated.
“Recent growth and support from countries for the wind industry are encouraging signs that the supply chain is establishing itself,” Baker said.
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