GWEC’S Global Wind Report 2025: Record Growth, Emerging Markets, and the Path to 2030 Renewable Energy Goals

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The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) has released its latest Global Wind Report, revealing that 2024 marked a record year with 117 GW of new wind energy capacity installed worldwide.

Despite this achievement, GWEC cautioned about growing policy instability in several markets. The organization stressed the urgent need to accelerate improvements in permitting processes, grid transmission infrastructure, and auction systems to keep up with rising electrification demands, achieve national energy and climate goals, reduce dependence on volatile fossil fuels, and deliver on the global commitment to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030.

GWEC also noted that while 2024 was a record-setting year for wind installations, the headline figures conceal significant disparities in deployment rates across different regions. The majority of new capacity was concentrated in a few key mature markets, particularly China and Europe.

Ben Backwell, CEO of the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), stated that while wind energy continues to spur investment, create jobs, enhance energy security, and reduce consumer costs, a more volatile policy environment is emerging in some regions. He highlighted that ideologically driven opposition to wind and renewables, along with the suspension of projects already under construction, is now threatening investment certainty.

Ben Backwell warned that escalating tariff wars are creating additional uncertainty for international investments and could disrupt critical supply chains for the wind industry. He also emphasized the need for policymakers to maintain stable market frameworks, support free and fair trade, and collaborate with industry to accelerate the deployment of clean wind energy for economic growth and resilience.

The 2025 Global Wind Report shows global wind capacity reaching 1,136 GW, with 55 countries adding new turbines in 2024. China led new installations, followed by the USA, Germany, India, and Brazil, which also now rank in the top five countries for total installed wind capacity.

The report shows strong growth in Asia-Pacific (7% y-o-y) and Africa & the Middle East (107% y-o-y), led by Egypt and Saudi Arabia. North America, LATAM, and Europe saw declines. GWEC forecasts 981 GW of new global wind capacity by 2030, with record annual installations expected through the decade.

In Europe, 17 GW of onshore wind capacity was awarded in 2024, a 24% increase from 2023, driven largely by Germany’s strong performance with 11 GW awarded — 72% higher than the previous year. While these figures are globally significant, there is still potential for faster growth if supportive policy measures, such as improved permitting and auction designs like double-sided CfDs, are implemented to reduce investor risk.

Offshore wind also saw a breakthrough year, with a record 56.3 GW of capacity awarded worldwide in 2024. Europe led with 23.2 GW awarded, followed by China with 17.4 GW. Emerging markets like South Korea (3.3 GW), Taiwan (China) (2.7 GW), and Japan (1.4 GW) also made major strides.

Looking ahead, GWEC forecasts offshore wind installations to grow from 16 GW in 2025 to 34 GW by 2030, with offshore wind’s share of new capacity rising from 11.8% to 17.5% by the decade’s end.

Girish Tanti, Deputy CEO of Suzlon Group and Vice Chair of GWEC, emphasized the urgency of achieving the 3x Renewables target by 2030. He praised GWEC’s Global Wind Report 2025 for outlining a clear path for the wind industry’s role in the global energy transition. Highlighting wind energy’s affordability, reliability, and critical role in climate action, he called for immediate efforts to triple renewables and phase out fossil fuels, stressing, “There is no Planet B.”

The Global Wind Report 2025 highlights four major challenges facing the sector: financial and macroeconomic pressures, rising trade barriers and market fragmentation, inadequate procurement and auction systems, and difficult investment conditions across the global wind supply chain.

Beyond the slight growth compared to last year, the report reflects an industry expanding into new regions, the rise of new wind energy hubs, and technology that is meeting the growing need for clean, reliable electricity in an increasingly uncertain world.