February 2, 2016

2015 Was a Record-Setting Year for Wind, Part 1: New Capacity

A record-setting 62 gigawatts of new wind power was installed around the globe in 2015

*Wind farm in Xinjiang, China by taylorandayumi (CC2.0*)

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It was a record year for wind power, with 62 Gigawatts of new generating capacity being installed around the globe in 2015. While the vast majority (93%) of this new wind capacity was onshore, according to newly released data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) over 4 GW of offshore wind was also installed – more than in any previous year.

For onshore wind, China was responsible for half (29 GW) of all new installations with the United States following in a distant second with 8.6 GW (14.8%). Overall, the Asia Pacific region swamped the Americas and Europe for total new installations and exceeded analyst predictions. According to Amy Grace, head of Wind Insight for BNEF, “while it’s not atypical for China to lead in new energy installs, 29GW far exceeded our estimates.”

Germany and the UK were responsible for most (88%) of new offshore wind capacity growth. All told, Germany installed 2.6 GW of new offshore wind while the UK installed 1 GW in 2015.

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H/T Jen MacDonald and David Hostert, BNEF

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