In 2018, the world added the third highest annual total of wind power. According to the Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables ‘Global Wind Power Market Outlook Update: Q1 2019’ report, 50.2 GW of new wind power installations were added globally, which is a 4 percent increase year-over-year (YoY).

The report highlighted that the United States wind power developers will shift to execute projects from 2019-2021 to fulfill production tax credit (PTC). During this time, 48 percent of the United States 10-year outlook will come online, and robust commercial and industrial (C&I) demand will strengthen state-level targets and bring innovation to drive long-term development.

2019 has not started on a good note for wind developers in South America according to the report. Colombia’s inaugural auction for wind projects did not see any projects awarded to a developer. Mexico also canceled its long-term auction, and there is no further schedule for the next round of auctions. However, the region is growing at a 10-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 10 percent.

The report says growth in India’s offshore sector will drive a 10-year CAGR of 12.2 percent in the Asia Pacific, excluding China. However, offshore wind in India is at a very early stage with not a single project in the pipeline so far. The only action in this sector so far was from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy which issued draft offshore wind energy lease rules which were aimed at spurring activity in offshore wind. Onshore wind installations in India in 2018 is expected to be only about 2 GW in 2018. India introduced reverse auctions to procure wind energy in 2017.

Cumulative offshore capacity in the Asia Pacific region is expected to reach almost 19 GW from just 111 MW at the end of 2018, led by growth in Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea.

China will continue to grow with new wind projects coming up in the northern provinces of the country states the report. Its annual share of offshore wind will average 18 percent of annual capacity from 2022 to 2028.

The shift to auctions for wind power projects in Europe is expected to create 20 GW of annual capacity additions.

“This significant level of investment seen last year was largely driven by a resurgence in China. The lifting of red warnings in key Northern provinces in China unlocked development, contributing to a 37% uptick YoY in the country (+5.6GW), that influenced nearly 2GW of net capacity additions globally last year,” said Luke Lewandowski, Research Director at Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables.

Nitin is a staff reporter at Mercomindia.com and writes on renewable energy and related sectors. Prior to Mercom, Nitin has worked for CNN IBN, India News, Agricultural Spectrum and Bureaucracy Today. He received his bachelor’s degree in Journalism & Communication from Manipal Institute of Communication at Manipal University and Master’s degree in International Relations from Jindal School of International Affairs. More articles from Nitin Kabeer