Last year was one of the most influential years on record for the global wind power industry. Capacity grew by almost a fifth (19%) compared with 2018.
There was a boom in onshore and offshore wind farms in China and the United States. Wind power capacity in 2019 grew by 60.4 gigawatts, according to The Global Wind Energy Council’s (GWEC’s) annual report. The growth was primarily fueled by a record year for offshore wind – which made up a tenth of all the new windfarm installations (6.1 GW). That’s the most offshore wind has ever contributed.
China and the United States together made up almost two-thirds of global growth in wind power and, therefore, retain their position as the world’s largest market for onshore wind power development.
Before the global coronavirus pandemic struck, the GWEC had predicted that 2020 was going to emerge as another record year for the rollout of wind energy projects – with a forecast growth of 20%. However, now that outcome may have been sabotaged by the crisis. The construction of energy projects will have slowed parallel with the economy-wide slowdown. Factory shut-downs and quarantine lockdowns of employees have paused manufacturing and infrastructure developments.
Although, the council thinks that COVID-19 could still present an opportunity for the wind industry if governments use the growing wind industry to help galvanize economic recovery. If they do, the outbreak could prove to be an economic watershed instead.
Dr. Fatih Birol, the boss of the International Energy Agency, warns that the virus could undermine progress in clean energy development. To avoid that, governments should use green investments to help support economic growth.
He said:
We have an important window of opportunity. Major economies around the world are preparing stimulus packages. A well-designed stimulus package could offer economic benefits and facilitate the turnover of energy capital which has huge benefits for the clean energy transition.
Ben Backwell, the chief executive of GWEC, noted that we are still behind in keeping global temperatures in check with the Paris climate accord. As of now, global clean energy growth isn’t enough.
He said:
If we are to have any chance at reaching our Paris agreement objectives and remaining on a 1.5C pathway, we need to be installing at least 100GW of wind energy per year, and this needs to rise to 200GW per year and beyond.
GWEC had expected a 76GW rise in global wind power installations this year. Now, the council will provide a new forecast taking into account the impact of the coronavirus. That revision will be presented in the second quarter of the year. Will a spreading virus also lead to a proliferating pandemic of wind power and green economic policy?
