The latest data released by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) shows that the wind energy industry installed 51.3GW of new capacity in 2018. Since 2014, the global wind market’s growth has been stable, with over 50GW of new capacity installed each year.
Despite a 3.9% decrease in the global onshore market in annual terms, there was promise shown by growth in developing regions such as Latin America, South-East Asia and Africa which were responsible for 10% of new onshore installations in 2018 (4.8GW).
New installations of 4.49GW in 2018 led the global offshore market to grow by 0.5%, reaching a total installed capacity of 23GW. For the first time, China installed more offshore capacity than any other market (1.8GW), followed by the UK (1.3GW) and Germany (0.9GW). GWEC forecasts that offshore wind will become an increasingly global market. If governments remain committed, and projects and investments continue, annual installations in Asia could reach 5GW or more each year. In the US, GWEC expects the developing offshore wind market to reach 1GW by 2022-2023.
