2023 was a record year for wind installations: report

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According to a new report by the industry's trade association, the world installed 117 gigawatts of new wind capacity in 2023, a 50% increase from the previous year, making it the best year on record for new wind projects.

The latest Global Wind Report, released Tuesday by the Global Wind Energy Council, examines the state of the global wind industry and the challenges it faces in expanding.

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The increase in wind installations “shows that the world is moving in the right direction in the fight against climate change,” the report said.

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 installed renewable energy generation capacity by 2030, as well as meet the capping ambition of the Paris Agreement. global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit).

Ben Backwell, CEO of GWEC, said: “It's great to see the growth of the wind industry picking up momentum and we're proud to have achieved a new record year on year.”

However, the report shows that wind “is becoming better understood and appreciated around the world for the value it brings as a renewable energy source,” said George Aluru, CEO of the Electricity Association of Kenya, an industry body for private investors in electricity. .

“This renewable energy supply supports climate goals in line with ensuring sustainable development,” he said.

As the effects of climate change intensify, wind power and other renewable energy sources are seen as key to reducing electricity generation from fossil fuels and mitigating climate change. Renewable sources are the cheapest form of electricity in many parts of the world and the cheapest in most others.

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The total global wind power capacity is now 1,021 gigawatts.

According to Christian Andresen, research manager at SINTEF Energy Research, an independent institute for applied energy research based in Norway, the report shows that the wind industry is “gaining momentum” through investment and maturity, and this snowballs into future growth.

For the planet, he says, it shows that climate goals can be pushed higher.

“This is an important building block in the transition to a net zero emission society,” Andresen said.

As in 2022, China led all other countries in new onshore and offshore wind farms in 2023. Of these, 65% were new installations, followed by the US, Brazil and Germany respectively. These four countries accounted for 77% of the world's new installations last year.

The report notes that wind power growth is highly concentrated in a few large countries and attributes this to strong market structures for scaling wind power in those countries. At the end of last year, the top five markets remained China, USA, Germany, India and Spain.

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However, some other countries and regions are on track to witness record growth levels in 2023.

In Africa and the Middle East, about 1 gigawatt of wind power was installed in 2023, almost three times the previous year. Due to upcoming projects in South Africa, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the report predicts that new wind additions in Africa and the Middle East will increase fivefold by 2028 compared to 2023.

Some of the markets to watch include Kenya, where wind power provides about 17% of electricity, the report said. The country has Africa's largest wind farm, the 310-megawatt Lake Turkana Wind Power Project, and the report lists new large-scale wind projects planned for the country, including a 1-gigawatt wind farm by local power generator KenGen.

But building wind farms is expensive and requires high initial investment, and emerging and developing countries face high capital costs and pay high loan rates to build wind.

Wind power also faces supply chain and grid challenges, and innovation in the power system 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. As an example of offshore wind, he said, there is very specialized equipment and manufacturing, and expertise in finance and business models is also required.

But the rapid growth in wind energy, the report says, means countries are developing the supply chains needed to keep up with that growth, and that will “almost certainly” lead to lower costs and improved technology. built around the world, he said.

“The recent growth and support for the wind industry is a hopeful sign that the supply chain is building,” Baker said.

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