Global wind energy installation just hit one terawatt (TW) capacity in June 2023 after a considerable 40-year grind, the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) reports.
Even more, the council forecasts the wind energy industry to reach 2 TW in less than seven years, indicating significant progress.
For context, the GWEC employs the 40-year metric in measuring the wind energy deployment progress because Danish engineers started experimenting with concepts in the 1970s, which later became the cornerstone of the current global wind industry.
Wind industry progress
Reaching the 1 TW milestone is undoubtedly significant progress for the global wind energy industry, which continues to rapidly expand as years pass.
GWEC now predicts that the industry will only take less than seven years to achieve 2 TW of wind energy capacity installation globally.
Notably, Wood Mackenzie projected in April that global wind energy capacity installation would hit the 1-TW milestone by the end of this year. Therefore, the wind industry actually beat that forecast, with GWEC and UN Climate Change marking the 1 TW milestone on Friday.
“…After 40 years, global installed #WindPower capacity has reached 1 terawatt this month. And the transformation to #RenewableEnergy is accelerating. According to estimates, the 2TW milestone will be passed before the end of the decade.”
UN Climate Change
The council noted that the new wind projects in China, Morocco, Europe, and the US primarily propelled the wind energy installation capacity to surge 1 TW this month.
“While this is an immense achievement, it still represents only a small portion of what we must build in the coming years in order to decarbonize our planet.
To avert a climate catastrophe with devastating impacts on communities and ecosystems everywhere, we must rapidly transform our economies, scaling up wind capacity to reach at least 8 terawatts by mid-century [to reach net zero]. There is no time and no need to delay.”
GWEC chairman Jonathan Cole said in a statement on Wednesday
See Also:
- Wind energy deployment projected to surpass 1 TW globally by the end of 2023
- Wind and Solar Energy hit a record 12% of global electricity in 2022
- Singapore examines hybrid solar, tidal, wind & wave energy systems
- Gazelle Wind Power’s floating offshore wind platform could revolutionize the industry
- Renewable energy sources exceed coal generation in the United States in 2022
Wind energy plays a significant role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and combating climate change. By displacing fossil fuel-based electricity generation, wind power helps to reduce the reliance on carbon-intensive energy sources and decrease the overall carbon footprint. All that said, this milestone is indeed a major celebration for the global industry.
