The global wind energy market was valued at $62.1 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach $127.2 billion by 2027, rising at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.3 percent from 2020 to 2027.
2020 was the best year in history for the global wind industry with 93 GW of new capacity installed, a 53 percent year-on-year increase, but this growth is not sufficient to ensure the world achieves net-zero by 2050, according to a report by Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC). The world needs to be installing wind power three times faster over the next decade in order to stay on a net-zero pathway and avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
Last year’s record growth was fueled by a rush of installations in China and the United States, the world’s two largest wind power markets, which jointly installed about 75 percent of new installations and accounted for more than half of the world’s total wind power capacity.
The report also indicates that there are now 743 GW of wind power capacity installed around the world, helping to avoid over 1.1 billion tons of carbon dioxide emission, the equivalent of South America’s annual carbon emissions.
The wind energy market is expected to rise as governments throughout the world become more concerned about renewable energy sources. However, offshore wind turbines are more efficient than onshore turbines. The offshore floating structure is more effective in narrow continental shelf regions with seawater depths higher than 20 meters because it can harness wind energy even at deep water levels.
Moreover, such a wind turbine can lower the cost of energy generation more than conventional energy sources. In Europe, for example, the current levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for wind turbines is about $220-$245, with an expected LCOE of $50-$73 by 2030.
The world needs to be installing an average of 180 GW of new wind energy every year to limit global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and will need to install up to 280 GW annually from 2030 onwards to maintain a pathway compliant with meeting net-zero by 2050.
