New wind installations in Europe last year, including non-EU and EU countries, fell short of WindEurope’s central annual target, falling 6% to a total of 18.3 gigawatts (GW) of installed capacity, WindEurope statistics showed on Wednesday.
Onshore wind in Europe contributed 18.3 gigawatts (GW) last year, while offshore wind added 14.5 GW.
WindEurope’s data shows that Europe now has 272 GW of installed wind power capacity: 238 GW onshore and 34 GW offshore.
Commenting on the recent data, WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson told Anadolu in an interview that the decline in wind energy installation is considered small year on year, but he envisages a major increase in annual installations between now and 2030.
He said that permitting for wind energy projects' volumes are up as well as investments, and the European Union is increasing overall levels of ambition for the buildout of wind.
'We have a new political wind behind wind energy now. With the wind power package that the European Union adopted and endorsed last year, governments recognize that the European wind industry needs strong support,' he said.
The Wind Energy in Europe 2023 Statistics and Outlook for 2024-2030 report shows that new installations in the 27 EU member countries, excluding the UK (EU-27), reached record levels in 2023, with 16.2 GW of new wind power capacity added, representing 88% of all installations in Europe.
Wind farm installations in Germany were the highest in Europe last year, thanks to its rapid ongoing expansion of onshore wind, which accounted for 25% of the installed capacity.
After Germany, the Netherlands installed the most new capacity, mainly driven by record new installations in offshore wind.
Sweden ranked third in terms of new capacity installations, with the addition of 1.9 GW from onshore wind.
- Denmark leads share in wind in Europe
Denmark had the highest share of wind in Europe at 56%, followed by Ireland at 36%, Germany at 31%, the UK at 29%, the Netherlands at 27% and Spain at 27%.
Wind energy met a record 19% of demand across the EU-27, an increase of 3% from 2022.
The report predicts the construction of 29 GW of new wind farms a year on average over the 2024–2030 period due to increased government ambitions and continued improvements in the permitting of new wind farms.
However, this forecast does not meet the EU climate and energy target for 2030 to build 33 GW a year.
By Gulsen Cagatay
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr