Wind power had a banner year in 2023! The global wind industry installed a whopping 117 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity, according to a report by the Global Wind Energy Council. This is the most wind power ever installed in a single year, and it’s a big jump – 50% more than what was installed in 2022.
Here’s a cool fact: countries on every continent are joining the wind power movement! In 2023, 54 countries built new wind farms. The top five countries for new wind power installations were China, the US, Brazil, Germany, and India.
China is a wind power superstar! They installed a record-breaking 75 GW of wind power in 2023, making up almost two-thirds of all the new wind power capacity added globally. This helped all of Asia set a new record for wind power growth too, with a jump of 106% over 2022.
Other regions are catching up, too. Brazil came in third place globally for new wind power installations in 2023, with 4.8 GW added. This helped Latin America see a big increase in wind power as well, with a growth rate of 21% compared to 2022. Wind power is even taking off in Africa and the Middle East, with a whopping 182% increase in new installations in 2023.
The future looks even brighter for wind power. The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) is so confident that wind power is growing even faster than they predicted; they’ve actually increased their growth forecast for the next few years by 10%!
Here’s the challenge though, according to Ben Backwell, CEO of GWEC: While a few countries like China, the US, Brazil, and Germany are leading the way in wind power, many more countries need to jump on board. Governments and businesses need to work together to make it easier to build wind farms around the world. This will be key to reaching our goals for clean energy.
