Global Wind Report 2021
The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) recently released the Global Wind Report, 2021. According to a new report by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), the world’s capacity to generate electricity from wind jumped 53 per cent in 2020.
Key Finding of the Global Wind Report 2021
- The world’s capacity to generate electricity from wind jumped 53% in 2020. A total of 93 gigawatts (GW) capacity was installed in the year.
- As per the report, total global wind power capacity is up to 743GW now. This is helping the globe to avoid over 1.1 billion tonnes of CO2 annually. It is equal to annual carbon emissions of South America.
- Report warns that, world needs to install a minimum of 280 GW of new wind energy per year in a bid to avoid worst impacts of climate change. Thus, industry & policymakers need to act fast to accelerate deployment.
- It underlines that, Governments across the globe must work with ‘climate emergency’ approach to eliminate red tape and planning delays. Government must expand grid infrastructure to scale-up wind power at the required pace.
- Wind power is a cornerstone to achieve net zero emission target and power a green recovery because it is cost-competitive and a resilient power source which is having most decarbonisation potential per MW.
- Technology innovations and economies of scale has quadrupled the global wind power market in size in past decade. Growth in 2020 was driven by installations on large scale in China and US which are the two largest wind power markets of world.
- Both China and US have over half of total wind power capacity and they accounted for 75% of new installations in 2020.
What is Global Wind Energy Council?
The Global Wind Energy Council was established in 2005 to provide a credible and representative forum for the entire wind energy sector at an international level. The Headquarters of GWEC are based on Brussels, Belgium.
What is the Aim of Global Wind Energy Council?
The Aim of Global Wind Energy Council is to ensure that wind power is established as one of the world’s leading energy sources, providing substantial environmental and economic benefits.
India and Wind Power
- India’s total installed wind power capacity was 38GW, the fourth largest installed wind power capacity in the world.
- Indian Government is reportedly lagging behind in its 2022 wind capacity target.
- Multiple issues are there challenging the Central Government's ambitious capacity target in the sector of wind
- The centre has a new renewable energy target of 175 GW by 2022 which also includes the 60 GW onshore wind energy.
- Only 1 gigawatt of the onshore wind projects in 2020 as per Bloomberg NEF have been installed in India recently. India's top suppliers 2020 report attributed the slow growth to the pandemic.
- The major producers of wind energy in India have been Renew Power, Sembcorp Green Infra, Alfanar and Adani Green Energy. The independent power producers commissioned the projects worth 883 megawatt in Gujarat which is equivalent to 79 percent of the wind energy capacity of the country.