New total installed wind energy capacity grew by 9% annually last year to 906 gigawatts (GW), with 77.6 GW of new wind power capacity installed to power grids, according to recent Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) data.
The GWEC said that with the new wind energy additions globally, total wind capacity would surpass the milestone of one terawatt (TW) this year.
According to GWEC, the history of wind energy dates back more than 45 years to when engineers in Denmark started experimenting with wind energy designs that serve as the cornerstone of the current business worldwide.
Last year was the third-best year ever for global new capacity additions at 78 GW.
GWEC Market Intelligence forecasts that this year will be the first to exceed 100 GW of new capacity added globally, hitting a year-on-year growth rate of 15%.
In addition, the council forecasts new capacity additions of 680 GW over the next five years, between 2023 and 2027, representing additions of 136 GW per year to 2027.
A good prognosis is foreseen from GWEC Market Intelligence until 2030, with an additional 143 GW expected by the decade’s end, 13% higher than previous forecasts.
"We previously forecast 1,078 GW to be built between 2022 and 2030, which is now forecast to be 1,221 GW of new capacity added between 2023 and 2030," the GWEC report said.
It also estimates that a milestone of two TW will be realized in just seven years.
This will be achieved through upgrades, including energy system reforms in Europe by replacing fossil fuels with renewables to achieve energy security in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Additionally, China’s commitment to further expand the role of renewables in its energy mix and an anticipated 10-year installation uplift in the U.S., driven by the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), will help increase global wind energy installations.
