Global Wind Energy Capacity Grew 117 GW in 2024: Global Wind Report

A new report from the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) has found that the world added 117 gigawatts of global wind energy capacity for 2024, matching the 117 gigawatts added in 2023.

In its report, GWEC had promising outlooks, including a record high wind energy capacity globally and an estimated 1 terawatt of wind energy capacity to be installed worldwide by 2030.

Newly added wind energy capacity for 2024 included 109 gigawatts from onshore sources and 8 gigawatts from offshore sites across 55 countries. In total, the world has now reached 1,136 capacity from wind energy sources.

Based on Global Wind Report, China leads the way in new wind installed in 2024, with 79,824 megawatts of capacity added last year. The U.S. ranked second with 4,058 megawatts capacity added in 2024, followed by Germany (4,022 megawatts), India (3,420 megawatts) and Brazil (3,278 megawatts).

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However, despite these improvements, GWEC warned that policy instability threatened progress in some countries, and more efforts are needed to rapidly increase wind and other renewable energy sources to meet countries’ emissions targets.

“Once again, the wind industry has broken new installation records, despite more challenging macroeconomic headwinds over the last few years,” Ben Backwell, CEO at GWEC, said in a press release. “While wind energy continues to drive investment and jobs, improve energy security and lower consumer costs, we are seeing a more volatile policy environment in some parts of the world, including ideologically driven attacks on wind and renewables and the halting of under construction projects, threatening investment certainty.” 

Escalating tariffs and the threat of trade wars are threatening clean energy growth, GWEC warned, and these actions could disrupt supply chains and draw hesitation from clean energy investors.

While wind energy faces challenges in the U.S., global wind capacity is still on the rise. As of last July, a Global Energy Monitor report found that China had 159 gigawatts of wind power under construction. In December, the UK announced plans to reach 95% clean energy by 2030, a goal that would be met with substantial help from onshore wind farms.

GWEC has forecasted an 8.8% compound average growth rate for wind energy, which could see 981 gigawatts of wind capacity added from now until 2030. The council has predicted global capacity to increase by 138 gigawatts for 2025. 

Ultimately, progress will depend on how markets adjust to the challenges from tariffs, investment uncertainties, potential supply chain disruptions and other economic impacts.

Backwell said, “It’s vitally important that policy makers around the world don’t take their eyes off the prize, ensure stable and predictable market frameworks, work within multilateral frameworks to ensure free and fair trade, and work with investors and industry to enable rapid deployment of clean, efficient wind power to support economic growth, resilience, and prosperity.”