Worldwide Wind Capacity Reaches 744 Gigawatts – An Unprecedented 93 Gigawatts added in 2020

The global market for new turbines reached a total volume of 93 gigawatts, around 50% more than in the previous year 2019 and more than ever installed within a year. The total capacity of all wind farms worldwide has now reached 744 gigawatts, which is sufficient to generate 7% of the world’s electricity demand. 

This strong development was achieved despite the pandemic. While COVID-19 appears to be slowing developments in some countries, it has generally not had any negative impact but rather seemed to accelerate the switch to wind and other renewable energies. 

China was still in a class of its own and built around 52 gigawatts within one year, which corresponds to a market share of 56%. With this addition, China now has installed wind capacity of 289 gigawatts, 39% of global capacity. 

The US market also developed extraordinarily and grew by almost 17 gigawatts in 2020. With such new record and wind farms with a total of 122 gigawatts, the US undisputedly consolidated its number 2 position worldwide. 

There were hardly any changes among the top ten wind power markets. Brazil climbed from position 8 to 7, with a robust market volume of 2,5 gigawatts (total: 18 gigawatts), while France fell from 7 to 8. 

The newcomer of the year was without a doubt Russia which tripled its installed wind capacity from 312 megawatts to 1027 megawatts and, after ranking 53rd at the end of 2019, reached the 37th place in the wind power market. The Republic of Korea (33rd to 30th) as well as Argentina (30th to 27th) both climbed three places.

Stefan Gsänger, WWEA Secretary General:  We are very encouraged by the strong growth in the wind sector in 2020.  Given that many governments become more committed to greenhouse gas-free renewable energy sources, we are very confident that such growth will also happen in the future, and becomes even stronger.  Accordingly and subject to increased efforts, the possibility exists that the world gets on track to meet the goals of the Paris agreement and limit global warming to 1,5°C.  The key is: Let citizens and communities around the world realise and experience the benefits of wind power.