Project summary
David Carr, Data Editor
Recent weeks have seen new capacity added, projects approved, construction progressing and assets changing hands. In the USA, the 265.5MW Goodnight I and 200MW Horizon Hill were completed, as was the upgrade of 40 turbines at the 300MW Fowler Ridge 1. In Canada, CIP launched Horizon New Energy, while construction began at its 495MW Buffalo Plains. And in Chile, Cielo Wind Power’s 486MW Peñasco Ventoso was approved.
In France, 54 projects were successful in the latest auction. In Spain, Statkraft agreed to acquire Enerfin and Pontegadea acquired a 49% stake from Repsol, in a 618MW renewables portfolio. Installation was completed at the 500MW Windplan Groen in the Netherlands. And Greece’s largest wind farm, the 330MW Kafireas II, was fully operational. And the 372MW Björnberget in Sweden was fully operational, as was Greece’s largest wind farm, the 330MW Kafireas II.
Octopus Energy launched its first ever offshore wind fund and acquired a 12.5% stake in the 659MW Walney Extension. The Crown Estate was looking to enable up to an additional 4GW of capacity off England and Wales. And new socio-economic research revealed that SSE’s 800MW Arklow Bank 2 could deliver an €800m benefit to the Irish economy during its 35-year operational lifetime. OX2 agreed the sale to Ingka Investments, of a 49% stake in a Swedish offshore portfolio, while Canada Pension Plan Investment Board agreed to sell its 24.5% stakes in Hohe See and Albatros to Enbridge. Seven applications were received to participate in Norway’s Sørlige Nordsjø II auction. EPCG and Respect Energy were considering developing Montenegro’s first offshore wind farm. And CIP, Flexens and Lhyfe were looking to develop offshore wind and green hydrogen capacity off and on Åland. But HOFOR put the development of its up to 300MW Aflandshage on hold.
In China, the 850MW Dafeng and 700MW Lianjiang Waihai were given the go-ahead, while the 450MW Shandong Peninsula South U1 became fully operational. Onshore, construction was under way at the 1GW Mulei in Xinjiang. In Australia, ACEN was successful in its appeal regarding the 900MW Robbins Island. Squadron Energy unveiled plans for the 420MW Moreton Hill, but Fortescue Metals Group abandoned plans for the up to 5.4GW Uaroo Renewable Energy Hub and BlueFloat withdrew its plans for the 2GW Illawarra. Meanwhile, Macquarie Asset Management launched the Australia and New Zealand-focused Aula Energy.
Elsewhere, GreenGo Energy filed an application for Megaton Moon in Mauritania. It would include 60GW of wind and solar capacity. The Egyptian Government signed an agreement with Jan De Nul Group, to start the study for the construction of a 1,000km Egypt-Europe export cable. Government officials were exploring the possibility of developing the 1GW Zhetysu wind farm in Kazakhstan. Ørsted was granted a 1.6GW electricity business licence, for an offshore wind project off Incheon City, South Korea. And Fugro was contracted by KREDO Offshore, to undertake surveys off Yeonggwang County.
Monthly forecast
Xinxin Wang, Insights Analyst
From an estimated current total of just over 968GW, we foresee total global installed wind capacity having topped 1,531GW by the end of 2029.
Asia-Pacific alone will account for just over half of this total, with Europe’s share representing a further quarter. The Americas will account for just over a fifth and the Middle East and Africa, the remainder.
Europe
From around 252GW at present, we foresee Europe’s on- and offshore wind capacity having reached almost 389GW by the end of 2029.
Growth in Germany’s on- and offshore sectors will see its totals having topped 71GW and 24GW by then. In the UK, the end-2029 on- and offshore totals are forecast at 23.5GW and 30.5GW. And those in and off France are forecast at 29.5GW and 5.7GW.
Further growth in Spain’s capacity will see its onshore total having topped 35GW by the end of the outlook period, while its nascent offshore sector should be host to just over 2GW by then.
North America
Our forecasts for North America are largely unchanged from a month ago and we still expect to see the region being host to around 251GW by the end of 2029.
In the USA alone, we foresee total installed capacity rising from the current estimated total of 146GW, to 220GW by 2029. Around 20GW of this will be offshore.
On a state-by-state basis, we continue to expect to see Texas’, Iowa’s, Oklahoma’s and Kansas’ totals having topped 55GW, 17GW, 14GW and 11GW respectively, by the end of the outlook period.
In Canada, we foresee growth to just under 21GW by 2029, while Mexico’s total is expected to have topped 10GW by then.
Asia-Pacific*
From an estimated 482GW at present, we foresee the Asia-Pacific region being host to just over 778GW by the end of 2029.
China’s end-2029 on- and offshore totals are forecast at 574GW and 64GW, while India’s total will have reached 61GW.
Australia’s total is forecast to double over the outlook period, to 22GW, while growth in and off Japan will see its on- and offshore totals having topped 7GW and 6GW.
Elsewhere, growth is also expected in Vietnam’s, South Korea’s and Taiwan’s offshore sectors, particularly towards the end of the outlook period.
Central & South America
From the current estimated total of 42.3GW, we expect to see Central & South America being host to 73.7GW by the end of 2029.
Brazil’s total is expected to have reached almost 42GW by then, with Chile’s tipped to have exceeded 15GW.
Growth in Argentina will see its total having reached 6GW by the end of the outlook period, while Uruguay's 1.8GW and the ‘others’ 9GW will account for the remainder of the end-2029 regional total.
Middle East & Africa
From the current estimated total of 22.3GW, we continue to expect to see the MEA region being host to just over 39GW by the end of 2029.
Turkey will account for 16.3GW of the end-2029 total, while South Africa’s and Morocco’s totals will each have exceeded 5GW by then.
Egypt’s total will have topped 4GW by the end of the outlook period, while the ‘others’ in the region will account for just over 8GW between them.
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