Global Wind report, 2021

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In news : According to a new report by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), the world’s capacity to generate electricity from wind jumped 53 per cent in 2020

Key findings of the report

• 2020 was a record year for the global wind power industry, but a new report published by GWEC warns that the world needs to install new wind power capacity three times faster over the next decade to achieve global climate targets.
• According to the Global Wind Report 2021, GWEC’s 16th annual flagship report, the world needs to be installing wind power three times faster over the next decade in order to stay on a net zero pathway and avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
• The global wind industry installed a record 93 GW of new capacity in 2020 – a 53% year-on-year increase, showing strong resilience in the face of COVID-19.

New wind power installations in 2020

• Total global wind power capacity is now up to 743 GW, helping the world to avoid over 1.1 billion tonnes of CO2 annually – equivalent to the annual carbon emissions of South America.
• As per the report, all of the 32.2 GW year-on-year increase came from onshore wind markets: China (24.6 GW), US (7.8 GW), Latin America (1 GW), Europe (72 MW)
• Due to Covid-19 pandemic the year 2020 for India was challenging
• Driving factors: In 2020, record growth was driven by a surge of installations in China and the US – the world’s two largest wind power markets – who together installed 75 per cent of the new installations in 2020 and account for over half of the world’s total wind power capacity.

Rankings 

Top 5 Onshore Wind Markets for New Capacity in 2020

1. China – 48,940 MW
2. US – 16,913 MW
3. Brazil – 2,297 MW
4. Norway – 1,532 MW
5. Germany – 1,431 MW

Note: India has been ranked 9th wth 1,119 MW capacity

Top 5 Onshore Wind Markets for Cumulative Capacity

1. China – 278,324 MW
2. US – 122,275 MW
3. Germany – 55,122 MW
4. India – 38,625 MW
5. Spain – 27,238 MW

Top 5 Offshore Wind Markets for New Capacity in 2020

1. China – 3,060 MW
2. Netherlands – 1,493 MW
3. Belgium – 706 MW
4. United Kingdom – 483 MW
5. Germany – 237 MW

 Top 5 Offshore Wind Markets for Cumulative Capacity

1. United Kingdom – 10,206 MW
2. China – 9,996 MW
3. Germany – 7,728 MW
4. Netherlands – 2,611 MW
5. Belgium – 2,262 MW

Suggestions: 

• It says that the world needs to be installing a minimum of 180 GW of new wind energy every single year to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, meaning that the industry and policymakers need to act fast to accelerate deployment.
• GWEC called for coordinated action from private and public sectors to meet the net zero goal by 2050.
• The report says that Governments across the world must take a ‘climate emergency’ approach to eliminate red tape and planning delays and expand grid infrastructure to further scale-up wind power at the pace required

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