GWEC’s latest wind energy statistics are in: wind industry installed 51.3 GW of new capacity in 2018

Dominika Elzbieta Moczulska
Former Communications Specialist at Vestas

Published on 05th March 2019

Despite a decrease in the global onshore wind market, Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) says 2018 was a positive year in all major markets.

The data released by GWEC shows that the wind energy industry installed 51.3 GW of new capacity in 2018. Since 2014, the global wind market’s growth has been stable, installing above 50 GW of new capacity each year.

Despite a 3.9 percent decrease in the global installed onshore wind market in 2018, GWEC emphasises that positive trends in Latin America, South-East Asia and Africa show promise for growth moving forward and points out growth trends that will add additional 55 GW or more to be added each year globally until 2023. GWEC expects the offshore market to grow up to 8 GW each year until 2023. 

Vestas continues to lead

According to BloombergNEF (BNEF), Vestas clearly outpaced the competitors with a market share of 22 percent in a very competitive market. Vestas was one of four manufacturers (including Goldwind, GE and Siemens Gamesa) that accounted for more than half of onshore wind capacity in 2018.

Looking ahead: long-term prospects for renewables

GWEC’s positive long-term findings are backed by Bloomberg’s New Energy Outlook 2018 (BNEO): in the coming decades, we can expect huge investments being made into wind, solar and other green energy technologies, further driving prices of renewables down, so that by 2050 two-thirds of global energy will come from renewables.

GSVP Group Marketing, Communications and Public Affairs and GWEC Chairman Morten Dyrholm reflects:

“Wind and other renewables are driving the change to a sustainable energy system for future generations. This shift creates tremendous growth opportunities for our company that stem from the great foundation we’ve built around wind energy. Going forward, we will continue to expand our core around wind while also developing sustainable energy solutions that enables us to grab a larger share of the overall growth within renewables.”