The world installed 117 gigawatts of new wind power capacity in 2023, a 50% increase from the year before, making it the best year for new wind projects on record, according to a new report by the industry's trade association., published Tuesday by the Global Wind Energy Council, explores the state of the global wind industry and the challenges it's facing in its expansion.
Still, the report shows that wind is becoming “better understood and appreciated across the globe for the value it brings as a renewable energy source,” said George Aluru, CEO of the Electricity Sector Association of Kenya, an industry body for private investors in electricity. “This is an important building block in the transition towards a net-zero emission society,” said Andresen.
Still, some other countries and regions are coming up, having witnessed record levels of growth in 2023. Wind energy also faces supply chain and grid challenges, and innovation in the electricity system is needed to integrate intermittent wind energy onto the grid while retaining reliability, said Erin Baker, professor of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at the University of Massachusetts. Offshore wind, she said as an example, has some very specialized equipment and manufacturing, and also requires expertise in finance and business models.