Another Stable Year of Growth for Wind Energy With China in the Lead

The wind power energy industry saw a fall of 3.6 percent fall when compared to 2017’s growth, however, GWEC claims that the growth has been stable

The wind power energy industry installed 51.3 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity last year, a 3.6 percent fall when compared to 2017’s growth, the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) had informed recently.

Despite this reduction, the GWEC has said that the growth of the worldwide wind energy market has “been stable” since 2014, with more than 50 GW of new capacity installed each year. Total installed capacity stood at 591 GW at the end of 2018, which represents an increase of 9.6 percent compared to the end of 2017. Installed capacity relates to how much energy can be produced at maximum output, not what is currently being generated.

Ben Backwell, CEO of GWEC said that China had led both the onshore and offshore growth, adding that huge growth was expected in Asia through the coming decade and beyond.

Furthermore, the report details that the onshore sector was responsible for 46.8 GW of new capacity in 2018, while the offshore wind market added 4.49 GW. In the onshore sector, Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa were responsible for 10 percent of new installations last year. China led the way in offshore, installing 1.8 GW, while the UK and Germany installed 1.3 GW and 0.9 GW, respectively.

Looking ahead, the GWEC‘s Director of Market Intelligence Karin Ohlenforst said that the organization expected 55 GW or more to be added each year until 2023, adding that the offshore marked would grow on a global scale.

In another report by the research firm BloombergNEF, it was revealed that the investments in wind, solar, and other clean energy projects in developing nations dropped sharply in 2018, largely due to a slowdown in China. While the number of new clean power-generating plants completed stayed flat year-to-year, the volume of power derived from coal surged to a new high.

The findings suggest that developing nations are moving toward cleaner power but not nearly fast enough to limit global CO2 emissions or the consequences of climate change. The majority of new power-generating capacity added in developing nations in 2018 came from wind and solar, for instance. But the majority of power to be produced from the overall fleet of power plants added in 2018 will come from fossil sources and emit CO2.