Wind Energy installations continue healthy growth, says UN report

The latest report by the UN SDG (sustainable development goals) focusing on global trends in the wind energy segment, has underlined that growth in most parts of the world in the segment is in a fast growth trajectory. Barring Europe and Eurasia, wind energy has maintained hefty double-digit growth pattern and India figures in the list of top countries driving this growth. The report has been made on the basis of trends which unfolded in 2016.

More than anywhere else, the Middle-East region has turned out to be the most fertile ground for wind energy growth with a reported jump of 30.74 percent in turbine installation capacity. In Asia Pacific, the growth has been close to 15 percent while Africa registered a jump in the range of around 12 percent. Even in Europe and Eurasia, the positive growth are just a tad shy of the double-digit mark at 8.74 percent. Among the top five countries, China and India lead the pack with 14.92 and 14.40 percent growth. Germany and the US are the other major growth drivers in the list with reported growth of slightly above 11 percent. In Spain, a global wind energy powerhouse, the fresh capacity infusion was, however, tepid during the course of the year with recorded jump of only 0.17 percent.

In terms of installed wind energy capacity, India now occupies the fourth spot in the global ranking – after China, the US and Germany. It proves the point that despite more buzz about solar energy in the market place, the wind power segment which had taken off much earlier in the country hasn’t lost steam. As per government estimates,  at the end of the current fiscal (2017-18), the estimated solar power installation capacity would be in the range of 20GW while for wind, it would be significantly higher at 34 GW.