The wind is blowing in favor of wind energy: 550 billion euros in investment by 2028

Wind power installation will require around €55 billion in annual investment over the next eight years

Wood Mackenzie, the global research and consulting group in energy, chemicals, renewable energy, metals and mining, has estimated that over the next eight years investment in wind power, one of the pillars of the global renewable energy industry, will grow by 8%, reaching €55 billion annually. Thus, this energy, which has 591,000 MW installed worldwide, would represent a total investment of 500 billion euros in the period 2020-2028.

The consultancy firm clarifies that these figures are based both on the increase in offshore demand, which has risen by up to 20%, and on the rise in the price of the turbines themselves. Numerous associations, such as Wind Europe, support the role of this industry as key to achieving the climate goals of continents such as Europe, where it already accounts for 15% of energy generation. To achieve this, Europe would have to install 30 GW of wind power annually, doubling the 15.4 GW added during 2019.

Despite these optimistic forecasts, Wood Mackenzie emphasizes the negative impact that the global health crisis derived from Covid-19 is having on the supply chains of the main global turbine manufacturers, and therefore on deliveries to the main operators. Thus, this situation would be affecting countries such as China, the United States, Spain or Italy; although it specifies that in the Asian case, the return to production at the beginning of March meant a penalty in its production of only 3 GW.

The energy produced thanks to the wind will turn 40 in 2021

This news comes on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the first wind installation, born from the collaboration between NASA and the United States Department of Energy in 1981. Towards 2000, which is what this small experimental wind farm was called, consisted of turbines in groups of three towers in the shape of a made of steel tubing. Despite all this, it wasn’t until 1997 that the first kilowatt generated by wind power was commercially available.