he growth of wind-energy installations in 2016 is unlikely to match the unexpectedly strong 22% expansion of 2015, when a record 63.4 GW was added internationally, Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) secretary general Steve Sawyer said on Tuesday.
He indicated that the pace of growth would slow to around 1.6%, with China unlikely to sustain its spectacular 2015 performance, when the country installed over 30 GW of new wind capacity.
Besides the Chinese expansion, strong installation performances in the US and Germany, in particular, resulted in wind supplying about half of all global power generation growth in 2015, with installations breaching 60 GW for the first time in a single year.
Sawyer expected markets in Africa, Asia and Latin America to continue to proliferate. South Africa – now one of 26 countries globally to have more than 1 GW of wind capacity installed – had been growing ahead of expectations.
Wind installations currently contributed about 4% to global electricity supply and the trade association was expecting that contribution to rise to between 6% and 8% by 2020, between 18% and 20% by 2030, and one-third of electricity supply by 2050.
