FILE - Wind turbines operate at an energy plant near Stetten, north of Kaiserslautern, Germany, as the sun rises on, March 19, 2024. According to a new report published Tuesday, April 16, 2024, last year, marked the best year for new wind projects. FILE - Beachgoers walk near wind turbines along the coast of Pingtan in Southern China’s Fujian province, on Aug. 6, 2022. According to a new report published Tuesday, April 16, 2024, last year, marked the best year for new wind projects.
“It’s great to see wind industry growth picking up, and we are proud of reaching a new annual record,” said GWEC CEO Ben Backwell, “however much more needs to be done to unlock growth.” The report notes that growth in wind power installations is highly concentrated in a few big countries and links that to strong market frameworks to scale wind installations in those countries. The top five markets at the end of last year remained as China, the U.S., Germany, India and Spain.
But building wind power installations is expensive and entails high up-front investments, and emerging and developing countries face higher cost of capital and pay higher loan rates to build out their wind, the report said.