Europe installed 15.4 GW of new wind energy in 2019. Three quarters of this was onshore wind, 11.8 GW, new offshore wind was 3.6 GW. Europe now has 205 GW of wind energy. And it accounted for 15% of all electricity consumption in Europe last year.
The United Kingdom (2.4 GW, both onshore and offshore) installed the most new wind farms. Then came Spain (2.3 GW, all of it onshore), then Germany (2.2GW, both onshore and offshore), followed by Sweden (1.6 GW, all onshore) and France (1.3 GW, also onshore).
Germany which has long been the engine of the wind industry in Europe is at a standstill. It only installed 1.1 GW of onshore wind last year — its lowest since 2000. And they announced very few new investments, indicating that next year won’t be much better.
Across Europe there were €19bn of new investments announced in wind farms, covering 11.8 GW of capacity. And 15 GW of new capacity was awarded in government auctions and tenders.
2019 installations were up 27% compared to 2018 but the rate of installations needs to double to reach the goals set out in the Green Deal. Climate neutrality and the Green Deal require Europe to install over twice as much new wind energy each year as it managed in 2019. And the growth needs to come from both offshore and onshore wind. That requires a new approach to planning and permitting and continued investment in power grids.
