Global wind farm capacity is likely to grow nearly 800% by the end of 2030 – with China at the head of the pack, according to two recent reports.
A report by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) indicates stronger than originally forecasted growth for the sector. The Energy Council had to review its latest annual report on wind power after a flurry of new projects worldwide added an extra 6.1GW to the grid.
The recent surge of projects, of which there are 28, equated to $35 billion in new investor funding, four times the 2019 amount, a Bloomberg NEF report found. The report showed that the year’s significant growth in offshore wind farms outweighed the slump experienced in the onshore and solar sectors, meaning the renewable energy sector avoided a negative growth year.
Feng Zhou, strategy director at GWEC and co-author of its report, said China would lead the globe in installations for the first half of the decade. When commenting about the growth of the sector during the age of COVID, Zhou told online media publication, Karma, that much of China’s future installations have already received funding and broken ground.
A spike in offshore wind farming will have serious economic and environmental implications, according to GWEC’s report. 1GW of energy produced from offshore wind farming would help avoid 3.5 tons of greenhouse gases from entering the already compromised atmosphere.
Coupled with the benefits of being an environmentally friendly energy source, the now growing sector could help create nearly a million new jobs. If policymakers facilitated the growth of the sector with stimulus packages, it could grow to support 900 000 new jobs by the end of the next nine and-a-half years, the report said.
An important factor in the increase in installations is the growing demand for clean energy in the Asia-Pacific region. Much like China, Vietnam, Japan, and South Korea have all expressed interest in implementing renewable energy and are expected to contribute to grid capacity significantly in the second half of the decade.
Ben Backwell, chief executive at GWEC, said the decade is looking promising for the emergence of new markets, most notably in Latin America and Africa.
hthttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/aug/05/china-poised-to-power-huge-growth-in-global-offshore-wind-
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