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Mobile WebSiteAccording to a new report issued by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), after adding more than 52 GW of new wind capacity in 2017, the global wind power industry will continue to grow strongly in the next five years.
The report highlights the performance advantages of the wind power industry in 2017 and outlines the direction of development for the next five years. The emphasis of the Council is on the cost competitiveness of wind energy, which is called wind energy as the most cost-competitive technology in many markets around the world.
In February, GWEC released its first annual market statistics, which showed that total new wind power in 2017 reached 52.573 GW, bringing the global cumulative capacity to nearly 540 GW. From a regional perspective, China installed 19.5 GW, which is lower than the 23 GW installed in 2016 and the 30 GW installed in 2015. The United States added the second largest wind energy capacity, about 7 GW, followed by Germany’s 6.5 GW.
Annual global wind capacity increase from 2001 to 2017
“Wind power is leading in the transformation of fossil fuels and maintains competitive advantages in terms of price, performance and reliability.” GWEC Secretary-General Steve Sawyer, “Onshore and offshore wind power are key to defining a sustainable energy future.”
The new report highlighted several major price drops in both land and offshore wind power. The onshore wind market in Morocco, India, Mexico, and Canada is being registered at a price of 0.03 U.S. dollars/kWh, and the recent tender price in Mexico is far below 0.02 U.S./kWh. At the same time, the offshore wind power market conducted unsubsidized bidding for the first time in 2017, and nearly 2 GW of offshore wind power in Germany and the Netherlands carried out unsubsidized bidding.
Looking ahead, we will maintain a steady growth trend in 2017 in 2018, achieve substantial growth in 2019, and exceed the milestone of 60 GW by 2020, so by 2022, cumulative wind capacity will exceed 840 GW.
Global Wind Industry Prospects for 2018-2022
"Argentina has a booming new market, South Africa is turning to emerging energy, Mexico is on the verge of rapid growth, India wind power industry is booming." Sawyer said, "Russia, Vietnam and even Saudi Arabia are showing growth potential due to European Potential, offshore wind power is spreading globally."
Global cumulative installed capacity of wind power from 2018 to 2022
In the next five years, China will still be the dominant market in the world, but it is expected that it will not have the same astounding growth as in the past few years. The US market will continue to grow strongly until 2022 or even later. And Brazil will remain the leading market in Latin America, although Argentina will soon begin to compete. GWEC also expects new markets to continue to appear in Africa and Asia
2018-2022 Annual New Wind Power Capacity by Region
In Denmark, 44% of electricity in 2017 comes from wind power, and the share of wind power in the country’s electricity sector will continue to grow. Uruguay has a 30% wind power penetration rate, while the EU benefits from 11.6% wind power generation.
"As the wind, solar, and energy economy improve, the outline of the 100% renewable energy system becomes clear," concluded Sawyer.
