China sets world record, adds 52 GW of wind power capacity in a single year
- March 18, 2021
China added a staggering 52 GW of new wind power capacity in 2020, making it the highest ever installed by any country in a single year. A recent report by Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) adds that Asia Pacific, thanks to China, now leads the world wind energy market.
The effect of feed-in tariff
According to Feng Zhao, Head of Market Intelligence and Strategy at GWEC, China today has more wind power capacity than Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, combined. “We were expecting an installation rush in China last year (2020) due to the phase-out of the onshore wind Feed-in Tariff by the end of 2020, but the Chinese wind market exceeded our original forecasts by over 73 percent.”
“In order for China to achieve its goal of net-zero by 2060, the country needs to be installing over 50 GW of wind power capacity per year from 2021-2025, and 60 GW from 2026 onwards. Although installation levels were on track with these targets in 2020, China now must ensure that this level of growth can be sustained in a subsidy-free era”, he added.
Cumulative wind power installations in China, as of end-2020, stood at around 288 GW.
India loses momentum in 2020
India saw new wind power installations of 1,119 mw (1.119 GW) which was less than half of the achievement in 2019. Commenting on India’s performance, Martand Shardul, Policy Director at GWEC India, said: “While it was a record year for wind power in the Asia Pacific region, India’s wind power markets experienced a slowdown in 2020, adding less than half of the capacity that was installed in 2019. Although COVID-19 may have contributed to the slowdown, we have been witnessing a deceleration of market momentum in India since 2018 due to policy, infrastructure, and regulatory challenges. Solving these challenges through collaboration between the private and public sector will be key to make India a wind power leader in the region once again and power a green recovery.”
Despite adding just under 1.2 GW, India ranked second in the Asia Pacific region in terms of new installations in 2020. However, India’s achievement in 2020 was the lowest annual addition since 2004.
As of end-2020, India’s total wind power capacity stood at around 38,625 mw—earning it the second rank, only after China, in the Asia Pacific region.
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Asia Pacific dominates
Thanks to the stupendous performance of China, Asia Pacific has now become the seat of global wind energy. The region saw 56 GW of new wind power capacity additions in 2020, up 78 percent from the achievement in 2019. Asia Pacific region is increasingly driving growth of the global wind industry, accounting for 60 percent of new wind power capacity additions in 2020, worldwide.
Total wind power capacity in Asia Pacific, as of end-2020, was nearly 347 GW, making it the region with the most wind power capacity globally and helping to avoid 510 million tonnes of C02 emissions annually – equivalent to taking 110 million passenger cars off the road, GWEC estimated.
In addition to China, Australia (1,097 mw), Japan (449 mw), Kazakhstan (300 mw), and Sri Lanka (88 mw) all had record years for wind power in 2020. [See tables]
Liming Qiao, Head of GWEC Asia, observed, “We are beginning to see new wind power markets emerge in the Asia Pacific region, especially in South East Asia, which will become increasingly important growth drivers for the wind industry over the next decade.
(Featured photograph showing an offshore wind farm in China is for illustration only)