Annual wind installations in Asia could hit 5GW a year

But countries need to continue to commit to goals and lure projects and investments.

If governments remain committed, and projects and investments continue, annual installations in Asia could reach 5GW or more each year, the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) said.

New installations could reach 55GW or more each year until 2023. “Stable volume will come from mature regions in Europe and the US, whilst significant growth is forecast to be driven by developing markets in Southeast Asia and the global offshore market,” it said.

Its latest data showed that China dominated both the global offshore and onshore wind markets in 2018 with 1,800MW and 21,200MW of capacity additions.

Overall, the wind energy industry installed 51.3GW of new capacity in 2018. Since 2014, the global wind market has been installing above 50GW of new capacity each year.

GWEC cited Southeast Asia as a part of the regions responsible for 10% of new onshore installations in 2018. However, there was a 3.9% decrease in the global onshore market in annual terms.

New installations of 4.49GW in 2018 led the global offshore market to grow by 0.5%, reaching a total installed capacity of 23GW. GWEC noted that for the first time, China installed more offshore capacity than any other market (1.8 GW), followed by the United Kingdom (1.3 GW) and Germany (0.9 GW).

Total installed wind capacity reached 591GW at the end of 2018, a growth of 9.6% compared to the end of 2017. The total installed onshore wind grew by 9%, whilst total offshore wind grew by 20%, reaching 23GW.

Ben Backwell, CEO of GWEC, said, “2018 was a positive year for wind in all major markets, with China leading both onshore and offshore growth. We expect huge growth in Asia through the coming decade and beyond as part of the continuing shift from Europe to Asia as the driving region for wind development. However, government support and policy are key to enabling faster market growth in key regions such as Southeast Asia.”