NEW DELHI: 2020 might have been the best year in history for the global wind industry with 93 GW of new capacity installed, but this 53 per cent year-on-year increase — massive as it is during a pandemic year—is nevertheless not nearly enough for the world to attain net zero emission status by 2050. According to a new report published by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), this growth is not sufficient to ensure the world achieves net zero by the time half the century is over and the industry will have to install 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.
“In 2020, record growth was driven by a surge of installations in China and the US—the world’s two largest wind power markets—who together installed 75 per cent of the new installations in 2020 and account for over half of the world’s total wind power capacity. Today, there is now 743 GW of wind power capacity worldwide, helping to avoid over 1.1 billion tonnes of CO2 globally— equivalent to the annual carbon emissions of South America,” the agency said.
According to the scenarios that have been established by international energy bodies such as IRENA and the IEA, the world needs to be installing a minimum of 180 GW of new wind energy every year to limit global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, the council said, adding that the world will need to install up to 280 GW annually to maintain a pathway compliant with meeting net zero by 2050.
“This means that the industry and policymakers need to work collaboratively and act fast to accelerate deployment,” it said. “Our market forecasts show that 469 GW of new wind power capacity will be installed over the next five years,” said Ben Backwell, CEO at GWEC.