With installations of a total of 60.4 gigawatts (GW) wind capacity, 2019 was the second largest year in history and close to the bumper year of 2015 (63.8 GW), the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) said in recent report.
According to the GWEC's Global Wind Report 2019, the wind energy sector last year saw a 19% growth compared to 2018.
New installations in the onshore wind market reached 54.2 GW, while the offshore wind market passed the milestone of 6 GW, making up of 10% of the global new installation in 2019, the highest level so far.
'Asia Pacific continues to take the lead in global wind power development accounting for 50.7% of the global new installations last year, followed by Europe (25.5%), North America (16.1%), Latin America (6.1%) and Africa & Middle East (1.6%),' the report stressed.
- Cumulative installation
In terms of cumulative installations, the world’s top five markets in 2019 in new installations were China, the U.S., U.K., India, and Spain.
The report added that 2019 remained unchanged, and the markets included China, the US, Germany, India and Spain, which together accounted for 72% of the world’s total wind power installation.
- Offshore wind market sees record
According to the report, with more than 6 GW new installations, 2019 was the best year ever for the global offshore wind industry.
China achieved a new record in 2019, installing more than 2.3 GW offshore wind in a single year.
'The United Kingdom came in second place, although as the world’s largest offshore wind market in total capacity, it also had record installations of 1.8 GW in 2019,' the report said.
By Gulsen Cagatay
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr