Global wind power capacity leaves behind an important milestone

Renewable energy investments continue to increase around the world. While the drag effect is mostly on the solar side, an important milestone has recently been passed in wind energy as well. After 40 years of effort, global installed wind power capacity reportedly reached 1 terawatt (TW) this month.

Wind energy reaches 1 TW capacity

Although the 1 TW scale in wind energy has been reached in decades, the next 2 TW target will be much shorter than that. Meanwhile, the 40-year benchmark is due to the fact that in the 1970s, Danish engineers first began experimenting with designs that form the basis of today’s global wind industry. However, the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) estimates that it will take less than seven years to reach 2 TW of global installed wind power capacity due to the enormous and rapid growth of the global wind industry.

Recently completed wind power projects in China, the US, Europe and Morocco have pushed capacity beyond the 1 TW threshold this month, according to GWEC. Jonathan Cole, new chairman of GWEC, said in a statement: “While this is a tremendous achievement, it represents only a small part of what we need to build on in the coming years to decarbonize our planet.” Cole declared that all societies and economies must undergo rapid transformation to prevent climate catastrophe and called for wind capacity to be increased to at least 8 TW (to reach net zero) by the middle of the century.